Life Neverending
by sgpcat17
Summary: Nico di Angelo killed himself after he told Percy that he was gay. Now, almost 18 years later, he finds himself back at camp Half-Blood, and he's still 17-going-on-18. Since he "left", it's changed there, and he finds that he is now accepted more than ever before. But could all that change when he's assigned to go on a potentially lethal quest?
1. Chapter 1 - Back From the Dead

I died a long time ago. Like, what feels like roughly a thousand years ago. Yet somehow I'm here again, back in the real world. Somehow, I, Nico di Angelo, am back in the real world after being dead for so long. You ask how? I don't know. But I _can_ tell you my story.

...

This entire thing began when I killed myself. Not long after I told Percy that I liked him, well, actually, that I loved him, I became hated by nearly everyone. Because Percy and Annabeth told Grover, and Grover told Coach Hedge, and Coach Hedge told the Aphrodite cabin, and... Well, you get the idea. Once everyone knew that I was gay, almost everyone hated me.

Almost. Only Jason, Annabeth, Percy, and Will still were my friends.

But even they couldn't give me as much support as I needed, because everyone else kept on pushing me down.

The others all made my life miserable. Well, more miserable than was usual, at least. I felt like I didn't have any options left, so one day, I went outside of Camp Half-Blood and just ran into the forest until I found a large stream, which I proceeded to jump into. Then I forced myself to breathe in the water until I was simply... gone.

Eventually, after a time that I prefer not to mention, I made it to the underworld. Most of what I remember is just sitting there doing nothing. I mean, sure, it was okay, but only because my father (who, by the way, is Hades) let me stay in his castle, and sure, I got to see Bianca again, but after a couple years, that just kinda wore off, and I just ended up staring at the ceiling all day, not moving, just thinking and keeping to myself.

But a few important things _did_ happen.

While I was there, I was able to reflect on what I'd done wrong in life, and I was able to forget all the anger and lies and horrors. I was given the chance to start anew, and I took it. I lived happily - for the very first time.

Then one day, I woke up and I was in my cabin at Camp Half-Blood. I was back. I don't know why, or how, but I assume that it was Hades' doing. Maybe he'd gotten tired of me just moping about, but he decided to put me back into the land of the living.

...

When I open my eyes, everything is different. The cabin is not the same, not like how I'd redone it. It's, of all things, Monster High themed. Pink and Black. Cartoon skulls all over. Striped wallpaper. Casket shaped lockers.

I swing my feet off of the bed and look around. I'm wearing my aviator jacket, silver chain bracelets, black jeans. What I was wearing when I drowned.

I get up and slink into the shadows in a corner, waiting for someone to come in. I want to know who lives here now.

I don't have to wait long.

After only a few minutes, a crowd comes rushing in, laughing and talking loudly. A crowd of girls rush past , accompanied by a lone boy. I don't spend long looking at faces, but instead keep scanning the room, taking in the scene. The bed that I'd gotten out of is gone, replaced by bunk-beds, all but one with Monster High designs on them.

The only bed that looks different is the boy's. His is pitch black, silver, and green, with snakes and embroidered silver lettering on it. Slytherin themed. He must be a Harry Potter or a Slytherin fan, like me.

Nobody seems to take any notice of me, so I stay there in the shadows, observing. The girls all go into the bathroom to change, while the boy stays in the main part of the cabin and undresses. I cast my eyes down while he changes, looking up only occasionally. When he and all the girls are done, they climb into bed and fall asleep. After I'm sure that nobody will notice me, I begin to creep out of the shadows, towards the door. Suddenly, an icy-cold hand on my shoulder stops me.

I turn around. It is the boy I saw earlier. His face is cast in shadows, and I can't make out his features easily.

"Come outside with me, brother." He says, then walks out of the door without a glance back.

For some reason unknown to myself, I take a deep breath and follow him outside.


	2. Chapter 2 - Surprise!

Once we're outside, it's a bit easier to see the boy's features. From what I can make out in the dim light, they're fairly similar to mine. Messy jet-black hair, deep-set eyes, thin lips, high brow bone, pale skin.

"Nico," the boy says. He knows me. Somehow.

"Who are you? And how do you know my name?" I ask suspiciously.

"My name, I will tell you later. I know your name because... Well, I've heard of you. Everyone's taught about the famous who came from their respective cabin."

Famous. The word rings in my ears. Famous, famous, famousfamousfamous. I shake my head. "You can't be referring to me," I say. "I'm not famous. I'm hated."

"Not really." The boy says. He turns away from me with one word, "Follow.

Even though it's a bit strange, I do. I follow him to the weapon shed, and enter right behind him.

"Come on," He says, "this way. In through here." He rummages around a bit until he finds what he's looking for. Grunting with effort, he pulls out a mirror, then turns to face me.

"You asked about my name... Nico." He says nothing else, and I stand there awkwardly for a moment.

"... Nico what?" I ask. I'm confused.

"My name. It's Nico."

"What?" That can't be his name, because that's my name.

"I can explain. Look into the mirror."

He turns on a singular light bulb and I turn to face the shining, reflective surface. What I see nearly gives me a heart attack.


	3. Chapter 3 - The Other Nico

We're identical. Completely identical. Every hair, every freckle (not that there are a ton of those), every speck of color in the irises of our eyes.

I stumble backwards and yelp in surprise, tripping over piles of weapons and cutting my hand on a knife. I turn to pick it up, and see that it's Piper's knife, Katropis.

Strange.

I pick up the knife anyway and hold if out, facing the boy, who supposedly is named Nico, just like me.

"Oh, come on!" He says. "Just because we look alike you think I'm going to hurt you?"

Now that I think about it, our voices sound the same.

"I can explain. Here." He sits down. "Okay, well, I'd assume that you already know that you killed yourself in the river, right? Well, a scientist found your body in that stream, only a few hours after you'd... Um, gone." He takes a deep breath. "He took samples of your cells and somehow cloned them. I am the clone he created."

I suck in a breath of air. If that's true, then... No. It couldn't be.

The boy continues on, "He raised me as his own until I was eight, and eventually told me about my cloning. You can imagine how disturbing that was. Knowing that you were born because some other kid that I never knew _died_. Well, after hearing the news, I ran away. I didn't know that I was a demigod, but because I was, I ended up being chased by monsters and eventually arrived here. When we learned about Nico - aka, you - I kept the image that was shown to us in mind, because I looked almost EXACTLY like the picture." He gulps. "Now, here you arrive. I'm your clone, and something's going to happen if the camp sees you, I mean, you've been dead for almost eighteen years - "

"Eighteen years?" I cut him off. I was almost eighteen when I killed myself.

"Yes, and it would be strange if somehow there suddenly was two of us walking around."

"No... You don't get it... Wait! How many days until you turn eighteen?"

"Um, nine."

I laugh, even though the situation is horrifyingly creepy. "Nine days until my birthday, too."

"You gotta be kidding me..." He says in awe.

"Not."

We both begin to laugh at the same time. We have the same laugh.

I'm sure of it now. Hades is the one who brought me back, on the anniversary of when I died. For one reason or another. For whatever reason, he allowed my clone to live, and brought me back. Possibly to help my clone in some way?

Either way you put it, Hades just saved my life... But in a way I would have never imagined.

In my delirious happiness, I don't notice that the door has been opened until I hear a voice.

"Oh my Gods."

It's a voice that I recognize, but it sound older. Rougher. I turn around to see another person staring at us, mouth hanging open slightly. He has a beard now and is taller, more well built. He has a silver ring on the ring finger of his left hand. But there's no mistaking the eyes that stare out from the depths of his weathered face.

It's Percy Jackson.


	4. Chapter 4 - The Prophecy

"Oh my Gods..." Percy repeats, staring at me and my clone. Staring at a pair of Nicos. He rubs his eyes. "Nico and... Nico..." Percy whispers.

My clone pulls away, backing into a shadow. He and I both don't like being confronted without notice, but I got over that long ago. I just stand there while Percy stares and a figure appears behind him a ways.

"What's the matter?" She calls, starting to jog.

"Annabeth..." Percy says, then louder, "Annabeth!"

I back away from Percy slightly, stepping beside the other Nico and laying my hand on his shoulder. I drop Katropis to the floor. It lands with a softthud, having landed on it's hilt.

Annabeth soon reaches the shed. "Look," Percy says to her, pointing at my clone and I. "Just... Look."

Annabeth stares at the pair of us for a moment, then growls, "If this is a joke, it's not funny... I mean, Nico died so long ago... If only he were here. His clone, though, we can deal with. But only because he normally wears colored contacts and a baseball cap." Percy says nothing while Annabeth goes on to whisper, "He's not wearing his cap or contacts, though, and he looks just like Nico now!" She heaves a sob and buries her face in Percy's shirt.

"There, there." He says. For some reason he looks calm now. He strokes her hair for a moment until Annabeth suddenly pulls away.

"The prophecy!" She cries. "He's they're here because of the prophecy, Percy!" She turns to face me, her face still wet with tears.

"Raised from the dead twice, truly testing fate. The son of Hades shall come back, many years late. Almost eighteen at death, yet he shall now come back. With his brother to meet him, dressed in all black. In the clothing of his death, the first brother shall arrive. Though the second wears all black, the first one won't quite. The first wears a bit of silver, and is deathly pale. Though the second is slightly different, they shall both prevail."

Annabeth glances at my clone, who's skin tone is the same as mine, then glances over at me. "In the clothing of his death, the first brother shall arrive... The first wears a bit of silver, and is deathly pale." I'm wearing the same clothes that I was wearing when I committed suicide. Annabeth whimpers when she sees this, then turns to Percy. She starts crying again.

Percy stares at me. I raise my arm a bit to show my bracelets and my skull ring, and Percy, too, begins to cry.

I'm shocked to find myself shedding a few tears as well.


	5. Chapter 5 - NICKname

When we've all calmed down, Percy and Annabeth excuse themselves and tell us to, in Annabeth's terminology, "Stay there or else!" So we do.

While they're gone, my clone and I debate on nicknames so that we won't be called the same name anymore - it's just pretty darn confusing.

"I'm sticking with Nico." I say. I'm not going to change my name. Never in a million years.

"Well, what should I go with?" My clone asks.

"I dunno."

"Would DomiNico work?"

"Are you really asking me that?" I respond.

"Okay, okay." He pauses to think a moment before continuing. "How about Ni?"

"Knee?"

"No, no, no. Like, um, 'Ni' as in 'The Knights That Say Ni'. You know, from Monty Python and the Quest For the Holy Grail?"

"Definitely not." I start cleaning out gunk from under my nails.

"Umm..." My clone mumbles. "Nono?"

I scoff, "Man, that's so stupid."

"I know..." He trails off.

"Hey," I say, "How about Nick?"

"That could work, I guess." He says. He ponders it for a moment. "You know what? I will go with that. Nick. It'll work."

"Good." I say. I hold my hand out to him. "Nice to meet you, Nick."

He takes my hand and shakes it firmly. "You too, Nico."

I half-smile for a moment, then we simply sit in companionable silence until Percy and Annabeth come back in.

"Okay," Percy starts, a nervous edge to his voice. "We're going to re-introduce you to the camp, have you explain what happened to you, and hope that nothing bad happens." His voice trails off.

"Kay." I say. "But we both know tht something will happen, maybe good, but most likely bad."

"I know, but it's the best we can do, right?" He replies.

"Hmm." I grunt in response. "By the way, he's going by Nick now." I point to Nick, who's standing in a corner. His hiding from Percy is getting annoying. "Come on, dude. Out of the corner already."

"I don't want him staring at me." Nick says. "He always does, with this weird look, like he can see right through me or something."

I sigh and grab him by the arm, forcing him out of the shadowy corner, "Come on."

Percy takes a glance at Nick, and then casts his eyes to the ground. He does look at Nick funny, when you watch closely.

"Yeah..." I say, "What's up with the weird look?"

Percy pinches his lips together tightly. "When I look at him, I see my friend who killed himself at seventeen." He says.

"That would be because he's my clone, you idiot." I laugh.

"Oh... Right." Percy coughs.

Annabeth interrupts, "I'll be right back." She rushes out the door and across the plush, green lawn. In a few minutes, she's back.

"You just gonna stand there all day or what? It's time to get going." She starts out the door. We we follow her down to the pavillion. The sun's above the horizon now, and people have already gathered for breakfast. As we get there, she stops and turns around. "Oh yeah. Nick, take these." She holds out a dark baseball cap and contacts.

"Thanks." Nick replies. He shoves the cap over his messy hair, then puts in the contacts. They turn his eyes from black to a startling silvery-green. Oddly, the color suits him.

We trudge over to a table and all sit down, except for Percy. He just waits in a corner for everyone to arrive. Then he briskly walks to the front of the pavillion to begin my welcoming speech.


	6. Chapter 6 - Re-introduction

He clears his throat. "Um, hi everyone. We have a important topic to announce as well as discuss today..." He trails off, seeming to have lost his train of thought, then suddenly snaps back to attention and carries on. "Well, I'm sure that we all know, or at least have heard, of Nico di Angelo, right?"

Heads nod around the room. Percy continues, "Yeah? Okay, well then, as we all know, he died almost eighteen years ago, and since then, we have welcomed many more children of Hades with open arms, since Hades has broken the pact, along with his brother Zeus, and my father, Poseidon.

It used to be that the children of Hades, Zeus, and Poseidon were very uncommon, because of the pact they made together after World War II. After the battle with Gaea, though, they decided to break their pact in the hopes that their offspring would be able to better protect humanity if Gaea tries to rise again.

"I know that you all believe that it will be impossible for Gaea to rise in the future, because she was blown up in the sky, not on the ground, but I believe that her ashes will eventually reform and she will try to rid the earth of humans, gods, and demigods once again." Angry and frightened shouts arose from the croud, then were hushed by Percy's defiant stare. "You would do better to remember my theory in the future. It's always best to be prepared for what might never happen than not be prepared when it does happen. If Gaea tries to attack again, as I _firmly _believe she will, it will hopefully be quite a long time from now.

"Anyway, back on topic, one of our campers is also named Nico, in honor of di Angelo - he has now decided to go by Nick, for a reason I will mention shortly.

"Not many of us know, but Nick is actually very similar to Nico di Angelo. More similar than most of us could imagine." He turns to look directly at Nick. "May I say it?" He asks, and Nick nods his head slowly, uncertainly. Percy smiles slightly, "Okay, then. If you're sure."

Nick nods his head, more firmly this time.

Percy turns back to his audience. "Nick is actually Nico di Angelo's clone. He was raised by the scientist who cloned him, and when he found out that he had been raised under false pretenses, in other words, when he was told about his cloning, Nick ran away. He made it here, to camp Half-Blood. Soon after, Hades claimed him as his own. To conceal his identity, he has worn colored contacts and a cap, and no jewelry even slightly similar to Nico's. And Nico wore quite a bit of silver jewelry."

The audience chuckles for a moment, then continues to listen intently as Percy keeps talking. "He has been with us for nearly ten years. He's almost eighteen, the same age that Nico di Angelo was when he drowned. Now, for some reason unknown to me, Nick's brother has come back." He looks at me, inviting me to stand. Sharp gasps and whispers explode all around me. Percy hushes the voices with a hand. "Nico has been brought back, most likely by his father, but it seems as though time froze him when he died. He should be my age by now, in his mid thirties, yet he is still eighteen. Don't ask me how that happened, I don't know much more than you do.

"Either way, Nico is back with us. So I say let's raise our glasses high and thank Hades for letting him come back to join us!" Percy's voice, filled with emotion, echoes around the pavilion, raising cheers as everyone toasts to me being back. I sit down and smile a tiny bit as people come over to congratulate me and clap me on the shoulder. By now, the campers don't really seem to care that I was, basically, raised from the dead. They act as if I've been here forever.

It's the first time I've ever felt like I truly belong. I feel like I'm one of them now. I'm just not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.


	7. Chapter 7 - Promise

At my table, we all sit and chat after everyone else has left.

"Well, that went well," Annabeth comments.

"Yeah." I say, "Very well. I'm surprised that they just... accepted the fact that I'm back from the dead without a second thought."

Percy smiles, "The campers are pretty easygoing these days, thanks to over at Camp Jupiter."

Camp Jupiter. I'd almost forgotten about that place. "What's going on over there these days?" I ask, curious.

"Eh, not much." Percy replies. "They're mostly doing the same things we are."

"Oh," I say. "Okay."

We're silent for a moment until Nick chimes in, "I've only been there once."

"Really?" I ask. "Why?"

"Because," He says, "the journey's so long. It takes a long time to just get there."

"You know, you could just shadow travel."

"It's hard."

"Really, now?" I'm surprised to hear that. Shadow travelling has never been that hard for me, except for when I was transporting the Athena Parthenos all those years ago. That drained my energy like nothing else ever has or ever will.

Nick's voice breaks through my thoughts, "Yeah. It's hard for everyone, almost impossible. Only Kate and Lia can do it."

"Hmm. You _should_ be able to do it. You're my clone, and I've never had a problem with shadow travelling, save for my time with the Athena Parthenos.

Percy chimes in, "Well, you were raised in different environments. Maybe that has something to do with it?"

"Maybe," I say. I turn to Nick. "I'll teach you how to, if you want."

"Really?" He gasps, "That'd be great! When?"

I smile as I dissolve into the shadows, "Meet me at our cabin."


	8. Chapter 8 - Not Nico

I shimmer into existence in the shadowy corner of my cabin. I see only a lone girl who is sitting in her bed marking up a piece of paper with a pencil. Her drawing is of a cat that is fairly demented. It's mouth is sown up with unmatching stitches, ear torn and shredded, eyes crying blood, and with a long toung that's forked and twisting like a snake's.

I shift along the wall silently until I reach the headboard of her bed. She doesn't notice me. "That's an interesting picture," I say, making her jump in surprise.

She turns toward me and swats at me playfully. Laughing, she says, "You should know better than to disturb me while I'm drawing, Nico!"

I smile slightly. It's obvious that this girl is friends with Nick, but she hasn't yet realized that I'm not him. So I decide to take it easy on her. It's better to be in her favor, especially if Nick is her friend. Not to mention that she's my sister.

"Hmm." I grunt. "Actually, I don't know better than that."

"What?" She asks me, the smile starting to fall from her lips. I step out of the shadows so that she can see me better. "Oh," She says weakly. "You're not Nico."

"Actually," I start, "He's going by Nick now. But you were right the first time. My name is Nico."

She leans forward, taking in my hair, my eyes, my clothing. "You're di Angelo." She whispers, almost inaudibly.

I smile, "Yes, I am."

She bites her lip and says nothing more for a few moments.

"Nick should be here soon," I mention, breaking the silence. "I promised him I'd help him learn to shadow travel."

"Oh yeah," She says. "I forgot that he can't yet. But he's your clone, right? Why would you be teaching him to shadow travel? If he can't do it, why should you be able to?"

"Because," I smirk, "I've had quite a bit of experience, now, haven't I? I know all the tricks..." I shadow travel quickly to the other side of her bed, where a light shadow stretches across the wall and floor, "... Of the trade." I shake the hair out of my eyes, then hear the front door creak open. I hold up a finger to my lips and grab the girl's arm, then quickly slide through the shadows, materializing right in front of Nick as he enters the cabin.

"Gaah!" He shouts, flinging his arms in front of his face.

I laugh, then grab his arm and lead him and the girl into the center of the room, where Nick rounds on me and the girl with a slightly annoyed glare.

"Lia, why would you do that?" He asks.

"Sorry, bro." I chuckle, "My idea."

"I should have known." Nick replies, pressing his lips together and flaring his nostrils a bit. He ends up looking a bit like an angry rhino. I stifle a laugh, covering it with a loud cough instead. I smile apologetically, and Lia giggles.

"So, can I join in the lesson?" She inquires, a hopeful smile playing on her lips.

"Sure," I smile. "The more the merrier, right? Let's get this thing started."


	9. Chapter 9 - Shadow Travel

I breathe out a slow breath. I was wrong to assume that teaching Nick (and to an extent, Lia) would be easy. Because it's not. It's really, really hard. Nick is just plain bad at shadow travelling, and Lia doesn't listen, ever.

It's like trying to teach a baby to recite fifty digits of pi.

"Okay, guys," I say carefully, trying not to sound rude, "You can do this. Just pick where you want to appear, picture it in your mind, back into a shadow, and try to melt into it. You want to try to not just blend into the shadows, but _become___the shadows. Got that?"

Lia and Nick nod, and both back up into the shadowy expanse of the wall. I watch them closely, searching for any clues that one of them could be succeeding.

"Don't try too hard. It will come naturally, when the time is right. If you're not ready yet, you're not ready yet. Just try to blend your whole self with the shadows, become the shadows. Let yourself become immersed in them." My voice is rough from talking so much. My tips don't seem to be helping though, so I just shut up for a moment and stand there, waiting.

Suddenly, Nick melts into the shadows. He appears less than a split second later on the other side of the room, the shadows seeming to twist and bend around his dark figure. Nick gives a great yell of surprise, then melts into the shadows again, reappearing in the spot where he originally started from.

I walk over and clap him on the shoulder. "Great job, dude."

He smiles in return, too breathless and excited to respond with words. He's worn out, just from those two jumps. He'll need to practice a lot. But Lia will have to practice even more. She hasn't even completed one jump yet.

I walk over to her and say, "Would it help if I jumped with you? It might help you get used to the feeling of it, maybe help you get the right idea of what to do."

She nods, biting her lip. I grasp her arm hard with my left hand. "On the count of three. One... Two... Three!" I jump, pulling her along with me through the cold, dark nothingness of the shadows. It's like speeding down a long tunnel with no light to guide you, until suddenly the place you envisioned is just... There, there at the end of the tunnel, where you can climb down out of the shadows and back into the normal, friendly, bright world.

The world that appears before us is the other end of the room. I pull Lia out of the darkness and squeeze her hand. "Hey, you did it."

She just nods in response, then closes her eyes tightly and bites her lip hard, then jumps right into the spot where Nick is standing. He scrambles to get out of the way and trips over his own feet, falling to the ground. Lia looks sheepish and chews her lip.

I just laugh. "Okay guys. That's enough for today. Congrats to both of you." I brush my shaggy hair of my forehead and just stand there, grinning as Lia skips out of the cabin. Before I can leave, Nick taps me on my shoulder. I turn on me heel to face him.

"Um," He mumbles, "Thanks."

"No problem." I reply, then, "There's something on your mind, isn't there?"

He twists his fingers together. "Yeah."

"Okay. Talk." I say.

He just sits there for a moment, then says, "Um, well, even though I'm wearing my contacts, people keep confusing me with you, and I was wondering if you had any ideas as to what I could do to make myself look more different."

I ponder that for a moment. "You could dye your hair or get a tattoo." I say eventually.

Nick grins. "What color would I dye my hair?"

"Silvery green, to match your contacts. You could also get glasses."

He laughs, "Maybe. I think I'll dye my hair brown. And I guess I could get glasses, but probably not a tattoo."

I smirk, "Why not?"

Nick just replies, "I dunno. But since you seem to be challenging me to, I will."

"Great." I say. "You go do that."

He gets up from the bed without another word and walks out the door.


	10. Chapter 10 - Change Is In the Air

I wake up to someone shaking me awake. I blearily open my eyes and sigh, not wanting to get out of bed yet.

"Come on, dude." Someone says, "You'll be late for breakfast."

I groan and swing my legs off the bed, then stretch and change into the new clothes that I got yesterday evening. I stand up and get ready to leave, standing by the door like the cabin leader has told me to. Soon enough, we leave.

Leaving the cabin to get to breakfast is different than it used to be. When it was just me in the cabin, I'd just walk down to breakfast alone, but with my new cabin mates, I feel out of place. All the way to the pavilion, they run and jump over obstacles, performing bits and pieces of parkour, whooping and hollering like there's no tomorrow.

So much for the Hades cabin being dark and ominous. The children of Hades now just play the role of the most fearless, maniacal campers. The morning routine is very similar to that of the Ares cabin.

When we get to the pavilion, I break off from the group to sit with Percy, Annabeth, and Grover. They're a much more sane group than my cabin. They might be older than me now, but at least they aren't crazy.

"Jeez," I say, sitting down. "My cabin's changed."

Percy looks up from the blue waffles he's chowing down on and nods. "Yeah. It's because of that series that came out a few years ago, Divergent. Ever heard of it?"

I shake my head, "No. We don't do much reading down in the underworld, remember?"

Percy turns red and clears his throat, "Right. Sorry."

"No biggie," I say, dismissing the awkwardness with a wave of my hand.

Percy smiles. "Yeah, well anyway, the Hades cabin just thought that the group called Dauntless was just _so_ cool, and they just kind of adopted some of the Dauntless characteristics as their own." He pauses. "Think you can get a hold of their morning fiascoes?"

I smirk and nod, "Oh yeah." I look around to see if my brother's here yet. He's not. "Hey, do you guys know where Nick is?" I ask.

Percy nods. "Don't worry, he'll be here soon."

I shrug and wish for some pomegranate pancakes, and they appear on my plate. Then I think of my favorite soda, which is black cherry flavored, and that appears too. I chow down on the pancakes and wait for Nick to arrive. I keep on waiting for a while, but don't see him.

Eventually, I ask again, "Okay, seriously, where's Nick?"

A boy I didn't notice sitting on the other side of Percy replies, "I'm right here." He gets up and walks towards me.

I look him over. His hair has been dyed a deep brown and cut a bit shorter, he's wearing new contacts, which are a light brown color, almost the color of caramel. He's wearing a pair of thin, black wire glasses. The biggest surprise, though, are his arms. Both of them have patterns on them, of snakeskin that's silver, black, and deep green.

"Woah." I say. People aren't going to confuse us now. Nick doesn't even look like me in the slightest.

Nick laughs. "I know, it's strange. People don't recognize me at all, they think I'm a new camper. And watch this." He steps back into a shadow and reappears on the other side of me. "It's getting easier. I practiced all afternoon."

"That's great!" I say.

Nick smiles. "I'd hoped you'd say that." He grins widely. "Well, ready for capture the flag? Hades cabin's playing against Ares cabin. You gonna come?"

I glance at Percy, who's obviously eavesdropping, then look back at Nick. "Yeah, yeah I am."


	11. Author's Note

Hey Guys! Before I continue, I just wanna say thanks, because Life Neverending's 1st chapter has now reached 200 views! It's all because of you guys you know. Thanks so much for reading my Fan Fiction! Remember to keep reading, because the story's far from over!

YOU ROCK!


	12. Chapter 11 - Capture the Flag

"GO!"

The shout rings through the trees, and my team charges forwards. Our leader for Capture the Flag is Gryphon, a tomboy who's more muscular than any other girl I've ever met. She's short, sure, but stronger than an ox and with a flaming temper to match. She crashes through the trees, roaring, and most of the Hades cabin follows her lead.

I don't, though, and neither does Nick or Lia.

Nick sighs. "She never plans ahead, and that's why we nearly always lose. It doesn't help that she never learns from her mistakes."

Lia nods, "Yeah. She's brawny, but definitely not brainy."

I cough. "Well, if she isn't going to come up with a strategy, then we should." I start towards the nearest tree, a towering redwood, and begin to climb. Lia follows me, but Nick stays on the ground. As I climb higher, Lia follows, but even once the branches begin to dip under our weight, she never falters.

I stop climbing when I know it's too dangerous to proceed. Below me the forest spreads out, wide and green. I scan the ground for any sign of the glittering red flag of our opposing team. I don't see it. "Hey, Lia," I begin, "can you see their flag?"

"No." She says, turning to get a better view.

I decide to step up a bit higher, even though it's risky. I place my foot in the crevice where a branch intersects with the tree and hoist myself up a foot or so higher. I scan the ground again, and suddenly, I see the flag. It's hidden by the creek, a sparkling flame of red attached to a low tree branch, surrounded by guards.

"Bingo!" I whisper. "I see it."

"Awesome!" Lia replies, starting to descend. I follow suit, carefully stepping down branch by branch.

Once we're back on the ground, we discuss a battle strategy of how to get to and retrieve the flag. We end up deciding upon a highly convoluted method of hide-and-go-seek, which will, of course, include some jumping.


	13. Chapter 12 - Nobody Can Jump

We split up. I start to sneak over in the general direction of the stream. I'm only stopped once by a small girl from the Ares cabin who doesn't look much older than twelve. I tackle her to the ground quickly, and she gives up once she realizes that she won't be able to win. Then I continue on towards the stream.

I don't see any other campers on my way there. They must all be either on Nick's trail or guarding the flag.

After another few moments, I can see the flag. It's surrounded by guards, all standing in a protective circle around it.

That won't do any good for them, but it will for me. My plan isn't to break through the circle; It's to jump right into it then right out of it.

The next few moments happen so quickly that nobody that's guarding seems to notice. They're all facing away from the flag, so they don't notice me when I shadow travel into the circle, grab the flag, and then hightail it out of there onto our side of the forest. Then I run out of the trees waving the flag high. The rest of my team is there, doing nothing - they must have given up, I guess.

When they notice me, the cheering begins. Then suddenly, Nick and Lia are by my side, having successfully jumped here, all according to plan. I fist-bump them as the Ares cabin bursts out of the trees. Angela, the captain of their team looks furious.

"You!" She says, marching up to me. "You _will_ pay for this."

I shrug in response, "It's not my fault that you forgot about shadow travelling."

"Nobody in your cabin _can_ jump!" She yells. "Nobody knows how to, nobody's really figured it out on their own yet, so they can't!"

I point to the rest of my group and retort, "Well, they will figure it out, I can promise you that. Nick and Lia here already have."

Angela furrows her brow in disgust, "You think you're so great, don't you, just because of your stupid little magic tricks." Her face is starting to turn red. "Well, you know what? I think that you deserve to be taught how others feel about that _jumping_ of yours." She balls up her fist and pulls back to punch me, but something stops her arm from moving forward. She looks at what's holding her arm and sees a hand of bones that connects to a bony arm that leads the way to a face that is white with deep holes for eyes and yellowed teeth for a smile.

Angels screams and jumps back away from the skeleton. She glares at me. Since I know I've made my point, I twitch a finger and the ground swallows up the skeleton again, returning it to its underground grave.

I clear my throat as Angela keeps glaring at me. Suddenly, she smiles.

"You know, you got a lot of grit there." She cocks her head and studies me for a moment. "I like that."

I laugh. "You know, you shouldn't try to flirt with me like that. I'm not your type."

She looks at me for a moment, clueless. I give an exasperated sigh. "I'm gay."

"Oh." Angela's face, which was already red, turns scarlet. Then she turns and quickly walks away.


	14. Response to REVIEWS

Hey guys!

So, I've been getting complaints about no Will Solace yet. Sorry! It's okay, though, DON'T PANIC PLEASE! I'll have Will and Nico meet again sometime soon - in two or three chapters maybe?

The truth is, I don't have a specific plot line laid out for the story, I'm just writing chapters in whatever order they come to mind. I mean, can you seriously imagine me mapping out that Nico died, was cloned, came back from the dead, met his clone, and then continued on like nothing happened?

Wait - I just confused myself.

How did that plot line develop again?

Oh, rriiiiiigggghhhtttttt, I was sleep deprived and just writing WHATEVER ME WANTEDZ! Yeah, PARTY TIME PEOPLE! Downbythebanksofthehankypanky - SING PEOPLE - where thebullfrogjumpsfrombanktobanky

... Um .

Sorry about that :P

Yeah, so just send a review telling me what you guys want, and Iz Will Writes okiedokie!

As Always, Thank you for reading :3 sgpcat17 (A.K.A MEOWZERZ) is out! PEACE! :3


	15. Chapter 13 - Solace

_Thump, thump, thump._ Someone's knocking on the door to the Hades cabin, but it can't be one of my cabin mates, because they're all here. Since nobody normally knocks on our cabin's door - we're not visited very much anyway - we just sit there in shock, nobody moving an inch. The talking putters out to a stop, and all eyes migrate toward the door. When nobody goes to open it after a few moments, the knocking starts again._ Thump, thump, thump. Thump._

Finally, one of the girls gets the idea to open the door. She walks over as everyone else sits in silence. She doesn't bother with the peephole, but instead just flings the door open wide. "What do you want?" I hear her ask.

A deep and gravelly voice answers her, "Can I, um, see Nico? And Nick?"

I can't see the door from where I'm standing, so I move over a bit, trying to glimpse the person who's voice is so low. I don't move into his line of sight though, because I am still eerie when around people I don't know.

To an extent, I'm even cautious with the people I _do_ know.

Apparently, Nick isn't. He grabs my hand as I stand there and leads me away from the wall. I tense up, nervous, but relax a bit when I hear him say, "Chill, man. It's just one of Percy's friends."

I clear my throat and shake my hand out of Nick's grasp, then follow him towards the door, which sunlight is streaming through.

Ick. I hate the sun.

As I near the door, I see the man standing there. He's so tall that he has to stoop in the doorway, slightly bent over. He's wearing lots of leather, and has a half-shaved head, as well as numerous piercings in his lips, eyes, and nose.

He smiles as he sees me, and steps inside. He bends down to give me a hug. "Nico."

I tense up at the sudden contact, and he seems to notice, because he steps back after a few seconds.

"Well," He laughs in his gravelly voice, "you haven't changed very much." He turns towards nick, acknowledging him with a nod of his head. He smiles again, revealing pearly white teeth that are perfectly straight.

He said that I haven't changed very much. That means he knew me from when I was originally alive.

But I don't remember him.

I step back a little, searching his face for any trace of my old friends. I shake my head a little and step back a little more, out of reach of the sunlight that tries to penetrate the room.

The smile that was on the man's lips falls away. "Don't you remember me?" He asks, his eyes pleading.

I shake my head, no.

He bites his lips and looks down at the floor. "You don't." He turns his face away slightly, trying to conceal tears. After a moment, he turns back to me. "If I say my name, will you remember me?"

I chew at the corner of my mouth, "I might."

"I'm Will..." He says, staring at the floor again. "Do you remember me now?" He lifts his eyes to my face. "I'm Will Solace."


	16. Chapter 14 - Run, run, run

I'm stunned. Amazed. And ready to cry.

The man standing in front of me is Will Solace.

But he looks nothing like Will. Nothing at all like Will.

The Will Solace that I knew before I died was tall, and his hair was short, a light golden color. His deep blue eyes weren't so sad. He had a heavy tan, and lots of freckles. He wore jeans and a camp Half-Blood t-shirt.

Now, it looks like he's well over seven feet tall, his hair is shaggy, long, and black on the right side of his head, but the left side has been shaven off. His skin is so pale that it looks ghostly, like mine, and not a freckle can be seen on his face or arms. He's not wearing glasses, his jeans are dark black, and the t-shirt he wears is black with a skull on it. Over top of his shirt, he wears a tattered aviator jacket, and silver chains hang from his neck.

Will Solace has almost turned into who I was before I died. The only real difference is that he's gigantically tall.

It's not just scary: It's terrifying.

I try to say something, but it comes out as a strangled animal noise, a noise of pure terror, pure horror. I shove Will aside and run out into the sunshine, tearing across the fields and into the woods. I just run, focusing on my feet, my breathing, anything other than Will,who's not Will anymore. I let my feet pound across the ground, left, right, left, right, left, right. Breathe in, breathe out. In, out, in, out.

Feral cries rip from my throat as I dash over roots, swerve between trees, and vault over rocks. I don't stop running, even when my legs have turned into jello. I keep running, running, running, until I trip over a root I didn't see and go flying.

I land on my side, and roll over. I'm sprawled out on the ground, tears streaking my face, just shamelessly crying. I can already tell that I'm hurt in one way or another, but that doesn't seem to matter right now. What matters is what Will has done, what he has become.

This couldn't have happened. Will, he couldn't have turned into me. Yet he did.

I squeeze my eyes shut and get up. I stumble over to a nearby rock and sit down, checking for injuries. I can move all my fingers, I can move my arms, I can walk. It feels like I bruised a rib, but I can still breathe. That's good.

I sit for a long time, concentrate on breathing, trying to ignore the pain that stabs and writhes every time I inhale. I sob, and cover my mouth with my hand. Then I get up and start to walk back to camp. Moping about in the woods all day won't help anything.

It's time for dinner by now. The sun is low in the sky, and the sunset is absolutely beautiful. It's weird when beautiful things happen on ugly days, but beautiful scenery such as this is somehow calming. As I stand and watch the sun, my heartbeat slows down and my breathing calms slightly.

And after a while, I'm not sure how long, it cold have been seconds or days, I continue on my way down to the pavilion.


	17. Chapter 15 - Not Okay

I wipe the tears from my face and brush off my clothing before I reach the pavilion, so that nobody will stare at me. Or, at least, stare at me more than usual.

But Percy and Annabeth can see right through me. They know that something is wrong.

"What's the matter?" Annabeth asks as soon as I sit down.

"Nothing." I growl.

Percy and Annabeth just exchange glances. They don't believe me.

I wish I were a better liar. I couldn't lie to save my own life.

Percy repeats Annabeth's question. "Nico, what's the matter?"

This time I don't respond with words, but I shut my eyes and lay my head down on the table.

Nick comes over. "Hey, buddy, what's wrong?" He asks.

I just groan. I wish people would stop asking that. Unfortunately, they don't.

When Grover sits down, he, too, asks me what the matter is, and if I'm okay.

Okay? Of course I'm not okay. Will memorialized me by trying to become me when I died.

I didn't know he cared that much about me. But he put himself through pain and suffering, and quite possibly humiliation, for my sake. He probably thought it was his fault that I killed myself. He did the wrong thing.

I don't say anything though. It's better to keep my thoughts to myself.

Even though I want to cry and spill all of my feelings, just get this off of my shoulders, I don't. Because it's better, it's safer to keep my thoughts and feelings inside myself, even if they start as a small puddle and end up becoming an ocean.

I bite my bottom lip so hard trying to contain my feelings that I bite right through it. Blood, hot and sticky, runs down my chin. I groan in pain and look up, then stand, step away from our table, and leave to go to the Apollo cabin. My lip needs to be sown up.


	18. Chapter 16 - Scar

**Warning: Medical procedures used in this chapter (stitching up a cut)**

Will grabs my shoulder and gently tips my head back so he can inspect my bitten lip. It's swollen and will need stitches, and I can barely move my mouth to talk.

"Hmm." Will says, turning my head this way and that. "I'd gamble that you need maybe seven or eight stitches. That's a pretty severe puncture wound."

I garble out a reply, "Well isn't that obvious?" It comes our as 'Well ithn't tat ohthious?'

Will laughs a bit. His laugh is deep and gravelly, just like his voice. It almost sounds menacing. Combined with the way he looks now, it's scary.

I really wish that it could be Sarah healing me right now, not Will, but he insisted that he'd do it, not her. Even though I have never met Sarah before, and even though she's less experienced, I still wish it were her doing the healing. I can barely stand to be by Will right now.

Will turns away to grab some supplies, and I stare at the back of his neck.

I didn't notice his tattoo before.

I don't notice much about it in the few seconds that he's turned around, so I make a mental note to ask him about it later. All that I notice is that the part sticking up above the collar of his shirt is black and looks shaggy.

Will turns back to me. "Okay, here's a little ambrosia. It should help a bit, but it won't fix everything." He hands me a small square of it and I pop it in my mouth. It tastes like pomegranate and blueberry scones. I sigh a bit in contentment as the pain slowly dulls to a weak throb.

"You done?" Will asks.

I nod, and he says, "Sorry about this, buddy." He pushes the needle through my bottom lip.

At first, I don't feel anything. Then, a tickling sensation starts to flood through my face. I'm glad I took the ambrosia: I much prefer tickling to the roaring lion of pain.

When Will is done, he ties off a knot in the thread and tells me to 'be more careful next time I go rampaging in the woods'. I blush in embarrassment and run to my own cabin as fast as I can.

When I get there, Nick is there to greet me. He smiles and slightly brightens my day by laughing and saying, "Well, now there's another way to tell that I'm not you. I don't have a scar."


	19. Chapter 17 - Split In Half

I wake up to a throbbing pain in my lip. The ambrosia has worn off, and now I can feel the full pain of my wound. It hurts a lot, but I can deal with it: I've dealt with much worse before.

I'm alone in the cabin. Everyone else has probably gone down to the pavilion already. I guess that they felt bd for me, though, because they let me sleep in instead of forcing me to join in the morning routine.

I'm glad they did - I don't how I would have responded to someone trying to wake me up this morning. I probably would have punched them in the face. I've done that before.

I hoist myself out of bed and change clothes, then head down to the pavilion for breakfast. When I get there, the tables are crammed full. Thankfully, Nick saved me a spot at our table. I sit down and wish for a hamburger. When it appears on my plate, Nick stares at me.

"A hamburger? For breakfast?" He asks, looking at me like I'm crazy.

"Well... Yeah." I reply, unsure why he thinks it's weird. "It's not _that_ strange."

"Okay, whatever." Nick says, rolling his eyes.

I turn back to my plate and start to chow down. When Percy meanders over and sees me, he laughs.

"A hamburger for breakfast. Okay, that's weird, but, well... I guess you really haven't changed that much, have you?" He asks.

I roll my eyes. "Why would I have?"

"Oh, I dunno." Percy says. "Maybe because you've been to Hell and back?"

I shrug and continue to eat my burger while Percy sits down. Blue cereal and a blue banana appear on his plate. I laugh and almost choke on my hamburger. "You don't call a _blue banana_ weird?"

Percy lifts his right shoulder. "I almost always eat blue food."

I don't respond, but instead finish my hamburger. When I'm done, I say goodbye and go over to the training station, planning to get in some archery practice. I haven't shot an arrow for a really long time.

When I reach my destination, I pick out a black-and-silver bow and a sling of arrows. I walk over to a target and pull an arrow out of the sling, then position it carefully, pull back hard, and let go.

My first shot barely hits the target, landing on the very edge near the bottom of the circle. I hear a smothered giggle behind me and whip around to see a young girl only a few feet from where I'm standing. Her face is red with laughter.

"What?" I growl, trying to look as menacing as possible. It doesn't seem to have any effect on the girl.

"You call that a shot?" She giggles.

I glare at her, "I'm out of practice."

She laughs and grabs herself a bow and sling of arrows, then merrily skips over to the target next to mine. She notches an arrow and turns to me. "Let me show you how it's done." She pulls back on the arrow, an arrogant smirk playing across her lips. Then she lets the arrow fly. It hits the target in it's very center with a dull thud, and the girl laughs.

I grind my teeth together and shoot another arrow. This one does no better than my first. I let out an exasperated sigh.

The girl comes over to me and says, "You want some help?"

Even though I really don't want any help, I do need it, so I agree.

The girl smiles and helps me position the bow right, then shows me the correct angle to hold the arrow at and demonstrates how far I need to pull back on the arrow. I mimic her over and over, until I finally am able to hit the target fairly close to its center.

"Thanks," I say to her when I'm done.

"No problem." She replies. "By the way, my name's Jeannie. Jeannie J." She sticks out her hand and I shake it, smiling. Then she turns on her heel and walks away.

Once she's gone, I decide to try hitting the target one more time, just for grins. I step over to the girl's target and back up a few paces, then pull the arrow back and let it fly towards the girl's target. I hear it hit home, exactly in the place I'd aimed for.

A perfect shot.

The girl's arrow, which had been directly in the center of the target, is now split in half.


	20. Chapter 18 - Jeannie Jackson

I am already yawning as I head toward the pavilion at lunchtime. I've done so many things already today that I've lost count. Well, more like stopped counting around seven or eight.

As I near the pavilion, I see Will wave at me, inviting me to join him at his table. I don't, but instead turn away to join Grover, Nick, Annabeth, Percy, and (surprisingly) Jeannie Clarke. I decide to sit next to Jeannie today, because I'd like to get to know her better. She's a bit like Bianca, who I haven't seen since when I was in the Underworld.

I gotta say, even though Bianca's a bit of a twit sometimes, she's my best friend, and I miss her. Yet, for some reason, Hades hasn't brought her back like he did for me.

"So," I say, smiling at Jeannie. "Thanks for the help earlier. You're a pretty good shot."

She smiles at me. "No problem. And thanks! By the way, you're not bad yourself."

I laugh. "Yeah, but you're better."

"Yeah, we're proud of her." Percy says, entering the conversation.

I twist my face in confusion. "You and who else?"

"Well, Annabeth and I, of course!" Percy says, smiling widely. "Why wouldn't we be proud of our Jeannie? She's the best shot we know, and she's only twelve!" He gives Jeannie a noogie, messing up her hair.

"Dad!" She squeals. "Stop it!"

I stare at Percy in amazement. I know that he's thirty-six now, but still, the thought of him having a daughter kinda creeps me out. I don't say this, though, and just fix a smile on my face. "Well, you're lucky to have such a helpful daughter," I hear myself say. "She helped me with archery yesterday. I can only hit a bulls-eye because of her."

Percy gives Jeannie a fist-bump and laughs. He bends down to whisper something in her ear. I don't hear what he says, but it makes Jeannie giggle.

She has Percy's laugh, soft and light like a summer breeze blowing across clear blue seas. Also, when I look closer, I can see traces of Percy's own features in her face. Her sea-foam green eyes, her lengthy fingers, her slightly curly dark hair. But I can see Annabeth's features in her too, in her thin lips, rosy skin, and wise face.

It's definitely strange to meet her now, as an eighteen-year-old, when I should be meeting her at age thirty-five or so.

It's _really_ strange.

But I'll have to get over that. Jason, Piper, Reyna, Hazel, Frank, and all my other old friends probably have kids right now.

Even though that completely and totally creeps me out, I'll just have to get over that.


	21. Second Response to REVIEWS

Okay, hi again!

So, I just received a message asking if Nico and Will will end up being together. I wouldn't really think so myself, because Nico's now only 18 while Will is 36 or so... That would be pretty awkward, right?

But what would you guys say about Nico having to go on a quest, and at the end of it he somehow magically became the age that he'd be if he hadn't committed suicide? And then fell for Will again?

Good idea or bad?

If he goes on the quest, should he find Leo and Calypso on some old deserted island? I could do that... Yeah, I think I will...

But I don't know for sure! I want you guys to decide! Go ahead and comment below ↓↓↓ You can answer the questions I've posted or put down some new ideas if you want :)

QUESTION TIME!

1: Should Nico be assigned to go on a quest?

2: If so, who should go on the quest with Nico?

3: Should Will go on the quest with Nico?

4: If Nico goes on the quest, should he somehow find Leo and Calypso?

5: If Nico goes on the quest, should he somehow return to the age he should be (35-36)?

6: Should Will and Nico share some giant mushy smooching scene?

Thanks yous alls :P Meowzerz is out, PEACE


	22. Chapter 19 - The Oracle's Speech

I walk away from the pavilion feeling as if my mind had been pulled and stretched like taffy. My head hurts from thinking so much, and my eyes are sore and heavy with fatigue.

When I reach my cabin, I don't bother to do much. I just sit on my bed and stare at the wall, the wall that used to be black but is now pink. The pink isn't a dull, normal-colored pink, either. It's a blindingly bright neon pink that seems to stare right back at you. It somehow feels... evil. I'll have to talk to the cabin leader about the color choices.

Then again, she's a girl.

And this cabin also has somewhere around fourteen other girls.

I sigh. There probably won't be any color changes any time soon.

After sitting and doing nothing for a while, the pink walls driving me crazy, I recover enough strength to leave the cabin. I step outside into the brightness of the sunshine and yawn, then I head down to the bonfire pit. There's supposed to be a meting / sing-along there tonight, if all goes according to plan.

Seeing as we're all either Greek demigods or Greek mythological creatures, and seeing as over half of us absolutely love to fight, it's not going to go according to plan.

But that's the fun of it, right?

I near the bonfire pit after only a few minutes of walking and see that the fire's already going. I'm late, but not by much. Satyrs, cyclopes, and demigods are still milling about, finding seats and chatting. I find myself a spot and sit down next to a girl with stormy gray eyes and blue-dyed hair.

Gradually, the talking subsides and the camp leaders, step forward, to the front of the bonfire.

Suddenly, before any of them can speak, a figure stands up a few rows in front of me and starts to rapidly move forward, towards the fire. It's a girl, and for some reason, nobody tries to stop her, even though she definitely is not a camp leader.

Once she reaches the fire, she turns around and faces the campers. It's Elizabeth Dare, the human who is also the host to camp Half-Blood's Oracle. Even from this distance, I can see how vacant her eyes are. It's no wonder that nobody stopped her: She's about to tell a prophecy.

She opens her mouth and a green tentacle of mist spills out of her mouth. Though Elizabeth doesn't move her mouth, she speaks.

_"One among you is not like the others, and yet it shall be he who saves the last one lost..." _The rough, crackly, wistful voice of the Oracle says. _"One among you must lay the path, so that the lost can come back without cost... There shall be five others to help the one, the one who will fight off the forthcoming gall... Yet at the end of his journey, if he is not careful, he and the lost could meet their fall... The lost are needed to stop the coming angry storm, and if they don't stop it, all will be gone... The six will add two to their numbers and grow, and those two will help to right the wrongs..."_

Elizabeth stands frozen for a moment before the green mist flows back into her. Her eyes light up and she takes a staggering step forwards, then she catches her balance and stands up straight.

"What happened?" She asked, seeing everyone's shocked and dazed expressions.

Nobody responds, but slowly, one by one, everyone turns their heads to stare at me.


	23. Chapter 20 - The Counselors' Argument

Everyone stares at me as I make my way down to the Camp Counselors, Percy, Annabeth, Philomena Nickleback (Who is a daughter of Apollo), and Ivan Reed (Who is a son of Hermes). When I reach them they're having a heated discussion.

Percy is nearly screaming, "... one prophecy less than a week after another! It's important that we take this into account. Though I think that it's fully possible that it's Nico who is the one mentioned in the prophecy, we don't know for sure that-"

Annabeth interrupts, "No. It can't be Nico. The last prophecy was about him!"

Ivan parries Annabeth's reasoning. "It could be about him, but I highly doubt-" He's interrupted by Philomena.

"Shut up! You're driving me crazy, all of you!"

Everyone else continues on like they can't hear her. I pick out bits of sentences as everyone's voices clash over one another.

"- Can't be right-"

"...Not it."

"No, you've got it all wrong!"

"Maybe-"

"- Not Nico, people-"

"- The Gods wouldn't approve..."

"... How do we know for sure?"

"No, I'm saying-"

"... Not now..."

"After everything that's-"

I clear my throat loudly and the shouting skids to a halt. The four counselors turn towards me. I start, "I don't know what you're arguing about, but instead of arguing, shouldn't you be having a meeting with the Cabin Leaders? I mean, I don't know for sure who the prophecy is about, but shouldn't you find out, or appoint someone to the task?"

Percy and Philomena exchange meaningful glances, then Ivan speaks up.

"Okay, let's go to the White House. Annabeth, Philomena, could you grab the Cabin Leaders? Oh, and Nico, you should be at the meeting too. Grab Nick and meet us over there in ten minutes, okay?" He starts off in the direction of the White House with Percy, and I'm left to my own devices.

I head back into the stands, which have only partially emptied out, and attempt to find Nick. Since he's not there, I head to the Hades Cabin to see if he's there. When I enter the cabin, he's lying on his bed in a bright blue t-shirt that's smeared with mud.

"Hey Nick. We're supposed to meet the Camp Counselors at the White House in-" I check my watch, "five minutes. Okay?"

He nods in response and grabs another t-shirt, this one black, and changes quickly. When he's ready to go, I open the cabin door and we sprint down the hills to the White House, where, most likely, my fate will be decided.


	24. Chapter 21 - Decided

"Good grief! Fine! I give up!" Annabeth yells. "Who's going on the quest?"

Until a few moments ago, Annabeth had been arguing that we shouldn't even _go_ on a quest. She's far outnumbered though, and has been since the beginning of the meeting. Only Taos Zhao (head of the Poseidon cabin), Kevin Wong (head of the Hephaestus cabin), Marie Chase (head of the Hestia cabin), and James Duster (head of the Demeter cabin) are on her side, while everyone else opposes her.

I'm not quite sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but it's been decided.

We are going to be going on a quest.

"Now, about who should go..." Ivan says, "I think the prophecy stated one person pretty well."

Everyone's eyes turn to me. I stand up and lean against the wall. "I guess I'm going."

Will clears his throat. "But what about the others? There are supposed to be six people in total. Five others are going to have to go with you."

I don't answer. I want everyone else to decide by themselves. I'm going, but I don't care who comes with me, as long as they're okay with it too.

Near silence fills the meeting room, broken only by the sound of Grover and his fellow Satyrs munching on crackers and Cheese Whip.

Nobody volunteers.

After a few minutes, Nick stands up. "Well, if nobody else is willing to go, then I will." He walks to where I'm positioned and stands beside me.

Then, slowly, Will stands up without a word and joins me and Nick, leaning his tall frame against the wall for support. He's the only person who I _don't_ want coming, but I can't just tell him not to come, especially seeing as I have no real reason to oppose him doing so.

Ivan stands up too, seconds after Will, and joins our growing numbers.

Nobody else volunteers. After what seems like an eternity, Will shouts out a challenge, "Come on! You guys chicken, or what?"

"No, we just don't want to go." Someone says.

Percy says, "Check with everyone else. Cabin Leaders, go back to your cabins and find at least one person each who is willing to go. Nico will have the final say."

I follow the Cabin Leaders back to the cabins, but just stand in the center of the circle they form instead of entering a cabin. Soon, a crowd has gathered. I glance around and see some familiar faces: Hazel, Frank, Jason, Jeannie, Lia, Piper. I also see the faces of people that I don't recognize, who I've never met before in my entire life.

I search out the faces and think of the strengths each person has, and consider the strengths we already have on the team.

Ivan can make decisions. That's evident because he's a Camp Counselor. Will is good at healing. Nick is my double. He and I can both shadow travel.

Nobody in our group is especially talented at fighting.

Jeannie's good with a bow, and she's brave. She's also smart, and she may take after Percy, but I don't know for sure. Piper's thing is hand-to-hand combat. Lia? I don't really know. She can draw. Jason can control the winds, and he's good with a sword. Frank can fight as any animal he chooses - that could be really, _really_ useful. As for Hazel, well, she can raise precious stones and metals out of the ground. I guess they could impale someone, or act like a bullet, but they're still not very useful.

My best options are Jeannie, Piper, Jason, or Frank.

Jeannie, Piper, Jason, or Frank.

Jeannie is young, but she could handle it. I know she could.

Frank is able to get us out of tight situations. He's done it before.

"Jeannie and Frank." I say sturdily. They smile and come forward o shake my hand, then follow me down to the Pavilion, where the rest of our group is meeting up.

Me, Nick, Will, Ivan, Frank, and Jeannie.

The team's been decided.


	25. Chapter 22 - Free

I wake up to someone slapping me hard across the cheek.

"Breakfast!" Someone screeches.

I hear laughter as people get ready for the day. I grab a pair of pants and a t-shirt and pull them on, then brush out my hair, which is a complete rat's nest.

I swing my feet onto the floor and put on my black high-tops, then join the g=crowd that's gathering by the door. The door is flung open and a collective cheer rises as we all race outside, rolling and jumping. We take the usual path through the forest, vaulting over rocks and fallen trees. Some of my cabinmates scale the trees and then jump from branch to branch, whooping with delight.

Somehow, I find that I'm enjoying the run. My feet pound in a steady rhythm, my heart races, and my breathing evens out. I can hear my own heartbeat, I can think clearly, I feel free.

The feeling of freedom lingers with me throughout all of breakfast, and I'm so excited about the upcoming quest that I barely taste my food. It's all I can do to contain myself and not start just dancing and singing.

Wait - dancing and singing? Where did this side of my personality come from?

I really don't know.

What I do know is that I'm happy. I never used to be happy, ever. For one reason or another, I was blaming myself for something bad that happened. Sometimes it was Bianca's death, sometimes I was sad because I was all alone, sometimes I felt terrible for what I'd done to so many people and so many creatures.

I don't understand why I ever did that. It feels so great to be truly happy again.

It's just so great.

I make a promise to myself when breakfast is over: I'll never blame myself for anything ever again, if it really truly wasn't my fault.

When I come to this conclusion, the mountain of weight that's been sitting on my shoulders for the past few days is lifted, and I feel more free than I ever have before.

I'm not just happy now.

I'm free.


	26. Third Response to REVIEWS

Woah.

Lemme just say, I'm completely amazed that I've gotten so many reviews. Awed is a better word for it, actually.

Either way, I feel like I need to reassure my readers that the story still has much to come.

THE STORY IS MUCHY MUCHY FAR FROM OVER!

I plan to start the Quest in chapter 23 or 24, and somewhere between chapters 30-35, there's going to be a Solangelo scene. Also, there's going to be some Caleo somewhere in the story.

I know what some of you are thinking: Solangelo? But Will's, like, 36, and Nico is only 18. Isn't that a bit... oh, i dunno... AWKWARD?

The answer is: Yes, yes it is.

But NEVER FEAR! I have some tricks up my sleeve that you wouldn't believe! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Trust me, it will work out :)

So thank you, one and all! Keep reading!

Meowzerz is out PEACE! :3


	27. Chapter 23 - The Quest Begins

We walk out of camp followed by cheers and whistles right before lunch. After breakfast, we gathered our things and met with the cabin leaders one last time, in order to get the supplies we'd need.

I had to visit the weapon shed, because up until today, I didn't have a sword or knife to call my own. I couldn't find my old black sword, so I took Katropis, and I found a pen similar to Percy's, that becomes an obsidian sword when you uncap it. My pen is in my pocket right now, and Katropis is tucked into the waistband of my jeans.

Nick's sword is thick and short, and is made from imperial gold. It's a Roman weapon, and he must have gotten it at camp Jupiter.

Will has a sword that's thin and long, and it shines bright silver. The hilt of his sword is made from copper, and it's much heavier than it looks.

Ivan has a double-ended spear made from iron that's slightly rusted. It looks deadly, and it probably could cut through stone easily. Ivan also has a short, stubby knife for close combat.

Frank's weapon isn't a sword or knife, or anything you'd normally imagine. His weapon is a tube that shoots glowing orbs. The orbs are filled with toxic gasses that knock you out instantly. There's a never ending supply of the orbs, so the weapon is one of the most useful we have. Not to mention that Frank himself is kind of like a weapon, because he can shape-shift. If he wanted, he could become a dragon and shoot fire out of his mouth.

Jeannie is armed with a bow and arrow. Her aim is deadly, so she doesn't have anything else to protect herself. The beat thing about her arrows is that her supply never runs out, and they appear only when she wants or needs them, so she doesn't have to carry around extra weight.

It's a good thing that we have the weapons we do, because as soon as we leave the safety of camp, we have to fight.

Only about three hundred yards from the exit of camp, we all hear a low moan. Then another. And another.

Each moan increases in volume as we race toward the source, until we find an deer crying out in pain. It's lying on the ground in a clearing, with a monster hovering over it. I can see blood pooled on the ground, and the deer continues to moan, it's cries becoming weaker.

The monster is eating the deer alive.

"Hey!" I shout, trying to distract the monster. "Stop!"

The monster turns around. It has the body of a serpent, head of an eagle, the legs of an elephant, and tail of a lion.

I've never seen anything like it before. It's a new monster.

It's a Thing.


	28. Chapter 24 - First Battle of the Quest

Knowing that I don't have the time to try and grab my pen, I pull Katropis from my waistband and hold it steadily in front of me, waiting for the Thing to strike.

It doesn't.

For whatever reason, it just slowly turns around to look at our group, staying virtually in the same place. The Thing stares relentlessly at us, it's eyes cold and calculating, almost as if it's trying to find the weak link.

The only problem is, we don't _have_ a weak link. Everyone in our group has a weapon, everyone is battle trained, everyone is brave, and every single one of us is prepared and ready to fight.

But the Thing doesn't know those facts.

It fixes it's gaze upon Jeannie, flicking it's toung. Her bow is out, at the ready. Despite her being armed, the demon lunges at her, it's mouth open.

Jeannie just manages to sidestep the raging beast. If she'd been even half a second late, she'd be lying on the ground.

The monster is injured now, but angrier than ever. One lesson I've learned in life is that no matter what, even if a demon is injured, if it's angry it can be stronger than ever. That's just the case right now.

The Thing's eyes blaze with destructive rage as it turns on us, hissing. It attacks again, this time aiming for Frank. Frank is ready though. He transforms into an eagle and swoops away into the trees before the beast can do anything. He'll come back in a few moments, when the time is right for him to strike unseen. I know his strategies.

The monster cocks it's head with confusion for a moment as Frank disappears, but it recovers quickly and leaps at me. I stumble back and attempt to maim the Thing with Katropis, but I drop the blade as soon as I swing my arm. Since I don't have a weapon I can get to, I do the only thing I can think of.

I shadow travel.

I reappear seconds later, back on safe ground, ready to fight, but everyone else has already got it under control. Frank and Ivan are distracting the demon while Jeannie remains hidden behind a tree, an arrow cocked and ready to fly while Nick is about to throw his knife. Will is on the other side of the clearing, a bow in hand (I don't know where he got it from, though). The beast lunges one last time at Frank, hissing it's fury. It nearly gets Frank, but Jeannie's just quick enough. Before the Thing has reached Frank, she's lodged an arrow in it's throat. The wounded beast disintegrates on the spot, leaving only a heap of ashes upon the ground.

Jeannie smiles, then remembers the deer that the Thing was eating and rushes over to it. She kneels down and places a hand over it's heart, then pulls back, a glazed, angry look forming in her eyes.

"Dead." She announces, her voice quivering.

I walk over to her and grab her arm, helping her up. "Come on," I say, "We need to keep going. There are other monsters in these woods, I'm sure of it."

Will meanders over. "Come on Jeannie. It's time to leave."

Jeannie nods, and we continue on our journey, making our way out of the woods peacefully, without encountering another monster.

But the peace, and our luck, is not to remain.


	29. Chapter 25 - The Dream

_"Help!" I hear myself screech through bleeding lips, even though I know that nobody will either hear or listen._

_Calypso is out cold beside me, her arms scratched and rubbed raw from the chains that hold her arms up high above her head. _

_My arms are in the same position, but in a worse condition. They are not only red and rubbed, but bleeding. Dried blood has run down from my wrists to my neck, and the blood that has pooled in the cavity of my collar bone is still a bit wet. I can feel it's dampness like ice-cold fingers on the back of my neck._

_On my other side is Festus, partially broken and whirring in pain. But I know that he'll be okay. Fstus is a machine. The thing that concerns me most right now is Calypso's well-being._

_This is miserable. Worse than miserable. My darling Calypso is starving and in pain, yet is unable to be put out of her misery, because she is immortal._

_But just because she can't die doesn't mean that she can't get hurt._

_It hurts me to be held captive like this, but it hurts even more to see Calypso hurt like this._

_That is my true pain._

_My true pain..._

I wake up with a start, the dream lingering in my brain: "_My true pain... My true pain... Pain._._._"

I try to gather my thoughts together. I was dreaming that I was someone who was trapped in a dungeon, chained up, and with Calypso. I was dreaming from the vantage point of someone who clearly cared for Calypso. I was dreaming that my only true pain was Calypso's pain. I was dreaming that Festus was beside me, broken in pieces.

If the dream was a prophecy, it can only mean one thing. One thing that we all thought was impossible, one thing that we all know is impossible.

Leo is alive.


	30. Another Response to REVIEWS

So, whatsup guys?

So, important day!

YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY

*Freak out moment!

Haha, ha, ha... ha... cough... *clears throat*... um...

So, with that out of the way...

I'm trying my very hardest right now to make the Quest turn out right, but I don't really know how to continue it. I mean, I've started it, and I have the key points mapped out for it, but I have no idea what the actual plot will be.

If you guys could try to come up with some events you'd want me to include, that'd be great. I already have three important scenes that will be included, but I'm running out of ideas for the smaller chapters, where hints of the next chapters appear, and there's a bit of suspense, but not much is actually happening.

But what kind of scenes should those be? Lovey-dovey scenes between Frank and Hazel (using Iris Messaging), scenes told by a different perspective, strange and awkward Nico-Will scenes, scenes where one character is reading from another book (like Divergent, Gone, Matched, Michael Vey, Harry Potter, I Am Number Four, etc.)?

I really don't know. I wanna hear what YOU think. What kinds of mini-scenes should I include during the Quest?

Please reply!


	31. Chapter 26 - A Vision, Not A Dream

"Wake up, wake up, wake up!"

I rush around our tent, attempting to make everyone snap out of their dreams.

It's like trying to wake the dead.

No, wait, it's harder than that, because I'm a son of Hades, and I can raise the dead pretty easily... It's like trying to rise the dead without the power of Hades, that's what it's like.

Will drowsily lifts his head, asking "Whad'ya wan?"

"Just wake up already!" I say back. I have no time to explain now.

Once everyone's awake, I quickly give them an overview of my dream.

"... And so that means..." I finish, "Leo Valdez is alive."

The others sit in shocked silence.

"But..." Ivan stutters, "But that's impossible! Everyone knows that he died during the war with Gaia!"

I shake my head in response. "It's true! That dream, it was too realistic, too vivid to be a dream! It was a prophecy, I swear!"

The others give me skeptical looks.

"What if it's just an image that was created by Gaia herself?" Will asks. "What if Percy's theory is right, and Gaia's ashes have reformed, and she's trying to rise again?"

Everyone else nods. They don't believe that my dream was a prophecy, and never will unless I prove it to them. But how can I prove it to them?

"It was a prophecy. I could hear Leo's thoughts, and I could feel his pain. He was trapped in a dungeon with Calypso, both of them chained up, and Festus was beside them, broken in pieces!"

"Wait," Jeannie says, "did you just say... Festus?"

"Yeah..." I respond, unsure of what significance that could hold.

"Well, he's a machine. If it was a dream, you wouldn't have seen him - Monsters such as Festus, that are literally living machines, are incapable of showing up in dreams. They can only show up in prophecies and visions, and even then, very rarely."

I smile. "Well, Festus was there, and he was in pain, creaking and groaning. Leo and Calypso were injured, too, but not as badly."

Will stares at me, mouth open. "So... It was a vision. It's true. Leo Valdez is still alive."

What Will doesn't say is that nobody knows how much longer that statement _will_ be true.


	32. Chapter 27 - Some Things Don't Change

"Let's go guys!" Nick shouts, hoisting his backpack onto his shoulder.

We all follow suit, picking up our bags and following him out of the forest.

Last night, we arrived at the edge of the edge of the forest and set up camp in a clearing. It was raining, and we all felt pretty dead - we were all extremely over-exerted. It didn't help that it was freezing cold, too.

When I woke the others up earlier this morning, everyone was too excited to get back to sleep, so that's why we're leaving this early in the morning.

It's still dark out, the sun still below the horizon. A light haze of fog shrouds the land in front of us, which is flat and grassy. The ground is still damp, springy, and slightly mushy from last night's rain, and it's still pretty cold out.

Jeannie shivers next to me. "Brrr, oh my gosh I'm freezing."

She's not wearing anything especially warm, so I ask her, "Do you have a coat?"

She shakes her head. "No, I don't. We never needed one in camp. The weather there was always perfect and sunny and warm, all year long, even in January and February."

I smile and shrug my coat off of my shoulders. "Here, take mine," I say. "I don't really need it. I'm good at dealing with the cold. Sorry if it's a bit big."

Jeannie smiles at me gratefully and takes my coat, pulling it onto her thin shoulders. "Thanks," She says.

I laugh. "No problem."

As we continue on our way across the grassy landscape, the sun begins to rise and the mist evaporates. The air warms up a bit, and soon we're all taking off our coats and jackets and stuffing them into our backpacks. Eventually, Jeannie hands my coat back to me.

"Thanks again." She says, "That was really nice of you."

I grab her shoulders playfully and lock her into a head lock, giving her a hard noogie. She laughs and I let go.

"Nico!" She yells, slightly annoyed.

I make a 'nah nah nah' face, and run off. She chases after me, laughing. I turn around and start running backwards, which turns out to not be such a good idea. I end up running into Will and toppling him over. I fall on top of him and start to laugh.

Then I see Will's expression and my laughter falters to a stop.

Will has a strange look on his face, one that I'm only a bit familiar with. He used to make that face at me every so often, whenever I did something stupid that was funny.

His face is a bit red with blush and he's biting his lip a little. He seems to think that my running into him was kind of... cute.

I sit up quickly and brush off my jeans. Even though I had feelings for Will when I died, and though I still harbor those same feelings for him, a relationship between us would be impossible. He's twice my age now, and he's changed too much. He used to be just your average joe, maybe a bit cuter than most, but now he's like a punk-rocker-goth-emo person. He's too much like my former self now.

The funny thing is, I've pretty much changed to be what he used to be like, at least personality wise, and he's changed to be what _I_ used to be like.

That's actually a bit scary, too.

Still, some things don't change. I won't deny it: I still have feelings for Will, and I think he still likes me, too. It wouldn't be possible for there to be an 'us' though, not now. Though my feelings haven't changed, both he and I have. By now, it would be impossible for us to be together. We'll just have to be friends now, because anything else just wouldn't work out.

But that doesn't matter right now, because we still have a Quest to finish, and this Quest is more important that me or him (or anything else) right now.

Or, at least, it should be.


	33. Chapter 28 - Still

By nightfall, we've worked our way through miles upon miles of the prairie. The forest isn't really even in sight anymore - all we're able to make out is a shadow on the horizon.

We set up our tents on the hard ground, which has dried out and firmed since this morning. I share a tent with Nick and Jeannie, and when I step into my tent, she's already there, curled up and reading a book. She's about halfway through it. She's engrossed in her reading and doesn't notice me come in.

"What're you reading?" I ask, walking up to where she's sitting.

She looks up, startled, and shows me the front cover of the book. It reads "Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, by Sally Jackson."

I snort. So that's what's happened while I was away: Percy's Mom became an author and wrote about his heroic adventures.

Typical.

"So," I say, "I'm guessing that it's about Percy - well, your dad - then?"

"Yeah." Jeannie responds. "His Mom interviewed him and wrote about his escapades as a teenager. It's actually kind of funny. Like, you know, you never expect to be able to read about your Dad. I mean, he's famous, and I guess it's a little weird."

I nod. I know _exactly_ what that's like - my Dad is Hades, so there are a lot of books about him.

"Well, them again," Jeannie continues, "All demigods have at least one famous parent, but it's rare for a demigod to actually _see_ their Godly parent very often. I get to see my Dad almost every day."

"Yeah." I say, thinking back to the last time I saw Hades. It was about two weeks ago, at this point. He'd said goodbye, and I hadn't really listened. I'd been in my own dreamworld.

"You know," Jeannie mentions, cocking her head, "there are, like, six or seven books out in this series right now. And the you're in some of the books."

I laugh. "I am?"

"Yeah!" She says. "You're in the newest book, and a couple others, I think."

I nod. "Cool."

Jeannie smiles and goes back to reading.

I go into the 'changing room' part of the cabin and change into P.J.s. Soon, Nick comes in and does the same, then we go to bed.

I can't fall asleep, and instead just lay there, staring at the ceiling. I'm nearly asleep when I hear Nick whisper something to me.

"I saw your little... Mistake earlier."

I turn over on my side to face him. "Mistake?"

"You know," he says, "when you fell over? I saw Will looking at you like that again."

"Like what?" I ask, trying to play dumb.

"Oh, come on, you know that he's still in love with you."

I already do know that, but hearing someone say it seems to make it more real. "Yeah, but... There's too big an age difference now. It'd be impossible for us to be together at this point. He's twice my age!"

Nick pulls a face. "If I know him, and I know him pretty well, then he'll find a way to be with you. I'm sure that he will."

I feel my throat tighten and turn over, ending the conversation. I fall into an uneasy sleep, not sure what to think of what Nick just told me.


	34. Chapter 29 - Kidnapped

Ivan shoves his hands in the air, falling to his knees.

"I surrender!" He shouts, laughing.

My knife, Katropis, is against his neck, flat side out. We've been training and practicing combat ever since we started the Quest, in order to keep our skills sharp. If we're attacked by monsters, we want to be able to fight them off as easily as possible.

I pull Katropis away from Ivan's neck and step back, smiling. I nearly always beat Ivan, but he's getting better. I just barely won our match this time, and I was fighting as hard as I could. He might win our next training session, if he keeps improving at the rate he currently is.

"You're getting a lot better," I say. I hold out my hand to Ivan and help him up.

"Really? I'm not seeing that. You beat me, like, every time! I can beat everyone else, but, I mean, you... Wow!" He laughs. "You've got some serious skills, man. During all 21 years of my life, I have never met anyone who can fight as well as you can. You're even better that Percy!"

I blush. Better than Percy? No way.

"I'm not joking," Ivan adds. "I can beat Percy any day, even near water. I can't ever beat you, though, and you're not even using your power!"

I gulp. "Really?"

"As I said, man." Ivan smiles, "No joke."

I smile back and turn on my heel, intending to go back to my cabin. I don't make it there though. While I'm walking through the dense brush that separate our camp from our training grounds, a hand clamps over my mouth and I'm pulled backwards.

I struggle and kick, but the person holding me doesn't let go. Instead, they cling onto my arm harder and drag me backwards faster. Eventually, my kidnapper lets go of me behind a large boulder. A rush of anger and hatred consumes me and the grass around my feet turns brittle and black as I angrily whip around and pull my hand back, intending to strike my captor square in the face.

And then I see who he is.

His shock of shiny black hair is tussled and windblown from the struggle through the grass, with gold showing at its roots. The part that used to be shaved is now coated with a light-gold fuzz. The brilliant blue eyes that stare out from beneath his strong brow are wild with nervousness. His dark jeans have a large gash in them, right at the knee, and blood is slowly dripping down his leg. He doesn't seem to notice.

Despite all that, his smile is still the same.


	35. UPDATE TIME

Soooo, how are you all liking the Solangelo goop?

XD XD XD XD

I know I'm likin' it! Aren't they cute together?

Well, anyways, I just wanted to warn you that during the next five or six chapters, there's going to be a (BUM BUM BUMMMMMM!) battle scene with some new characters (whom I will not mention)

And just to warn you, I'm most likely going to continue this fanfiction on and make (basically) another book.

So... Settle yourself in for a LLLOOOOOOONNNGGG ride :)

!

So, just wanted to give you guys that little update! See you soon!

Meowzerz is out, PEACE! :)


	36. Chapter 30 - May I?

"Will?" I ask, confused. He's the one who dragged me back here?

Well, actually, he's pulled me aside before to talk to me. But I can't even see the camp anymore - what's the point of dragging me so far away from everyone else?

Will blushes a deep red. "Sorry about that. I just didn't want the others to hear what I want to ask you, and I knew that you'd never agree to meet me outside of camp."

I put my arm down and let it hang loose at my side. I'm not sure if I want to hear his questions or not, but I feel like I should at least hear him out, allow him a testimony.

"Okay, shoot." I say.

Will blushes an even deeper red. "Well... Um, I just... Um..." He bites his lip, looking panicked. "Well, uh... Did you know that I had a crush on you before you, um, left?"

I nod. It was obvious at the time. It still is obvious.

"Well, I, uh, still like you. Like, um..." He's flustered, and doesn't seem to know how to continue. It's really cute. Like, severely cute.

"You still have a crush on me?" I ask, even though it's obvious.

"Well, um." Will clears his throat. "Yeah."

I nod. It's pretty clear by the way he acts around me. "Even though I'm half your age now?"

Will bites his lip again. "Well, I know it's weird, but, um, yes."

I sigh sadly. "Yeah, well, nothing we can do about that now. There's too big an age difference between us, and it'd be impossible for us to be together. You know that already. And I can't go forward in time, and you can't go backwards, so..." I give him a pained expression. "Hey, I'm sorry dude. I still feel the same for you too, but... I'm sorry, it wouldn't work."

Will stares at the ground, defeated. "I knew you'd say that. I wish I could find us a way."

I clear my throat. "Really, I am sorry."

We're silent for a moment, then Will asks, "Well, may I at least give you one kiss?"

I blush and smile slyly. "I guess I could allow that."

Will steps towards me and holds my head so that I'm looking up at him, into his face. Then he slowly bends down and we fit our mouths together.

His kiss is much gentler than you'd think by the sight of him. His hands caress my face, warm and comforting. The smell of him is overpowering. He smells like drying grass and sugar, a sweet combination that reminds me of summer. My lips, dry and slightly cracked are pushed up against his soft ones as his nose brushes against mine. I grab his arm and notice how strong his arms are as I brush my fingertips over his muscle. I wish that we could stay together like this forever, forgetting our pasts and immersing ourselves in the present, forgetting time and what it has done to us.

Will slowly pulls back, but only a little. I gasp for air, and feel his breath gently tickle my cheek and neck. As our foreheads touch, he smiles radiantly, and I grin lovingly back at him.

Then he grabs my hand securely in his and whispers the words that I will never forget: "That's convinced me. We're meant to be together, and I _will_ find a way to be with you. I swear it on the River Styx."


	37. Chapter 31 - Please

I walk back to my tent slowly, with a warm feeling radiating out from heart and a bounce in my step. As I walk, I think back to my old life.

It was to be expected, I guess, now that I think about it. That Will would still like me, that he'd still want to be with me. I could tell from his quick little glances and shy smile that he liked me, and it wasn't just a gut feeling: It was obvious. When he was around other people, he was confident and his voice was regular-sounding, maybe just a bit on the low side. When he was around me, though, he was severely nervous and his voice nearly squeaked.

He had a crush on me then, and it kind of makes sense that he'd still have that same crush. It sorta makes sense that he'd still want to be with me.

But to swear it on the River Styx? That's pretty much suicide. He's too old for me now. I could never be with him unless something happened to change our ages. For example, if I suddenly aged by 20 years, or if he somehow lost 20.

But as we all know, only Gods can change their appearances and ages. Even most immortals can't.

So it's hopeless.

As I walk, my thoughts switch from depressing to usual. I ponder useless things and wonder about what Bianca's doing down in the Underworld. I scuff my heels on the ground. I carelessly turn around and walk backwards.

Eventually, because nothing usual is able to catch my attention, my thoughts become supremely embarrassing. In my mind I relive Will's kiss, over and over and over. The feel of his soft lips against my own dry ones, his breath warm against my neck, his comforting hands on my cheeks, his racing pulse making the largest vein in his neck stand at attention, my own fluttering hearbeat, the feel of his strong-and-secure shoulders beneath my fingertips.

I hate to say it, but I have the exact same feelings toward him as he has towards me. He wants me to be his, and I want him to be mine.

But that could never be.

_Unless..._

I fall to my knees on the spot and clasp my hands together to keep them from shaking. In a soft voice, I whisper, "Hebe, I know I've never prayed to you before, or sacrificed anything for you, or done anything to be worthy of your attention, but... Please. I... I..." My voice sputters to a halt for a split second before I continue. "I love him. I love Will Solace, who was my crush before I killed myself. Now that I'm back from the dead, he's 18 years older than me, but I... I still love him. I know that he loves me too, because he's sworn on the River Styx that he'll find a way to be with me. Please, do something. I don't care if I become his age or he becomes mine, I don't care, but... Please. You're the Goddess of youth, and I beg you: Please do something to either Will or myself so that we can be together. Please. He'll die if he breaks his oath, and in all truth..." I swallow hard. "I truly don't know how I'd live without him."

I stand back up, biting my lip, and then continue on walking to camp like nothing ever happened at all.


	38. Chapter 32 - Go Time

I stand at the back of our group, letting the others decide how we should travel today. We don't know how much time we have, and we need to start working more quickly, just in case.

The memory of Will's kiss lingers at the back of my mind, calling for attention. Even though I know I should be concentrating on more important things, I can't bring myself to, and I succumb to the memory.

_My lips against Will's, mine dry and his soft and warm. His breath tickling my neck. Warm hands on my cheeks. The smell of sugar and drying grass, his smell. His strong, comforting arms and shoulders. My heart pounding fast and hard against my rib cage._

I'm startled out of the memory by Frank, shaking my shoulders.

"Hey, man. You okay? You've been just staring off into space for a while." He says, his eyes searching mine.

I clear my throat. "Um, yeah. I'm fine."

I need to concentrate. I focus in on the discussion as it resumes.

"So," Ivan coughs. "Flying Frank in dragon form is out of the question. He doesn't like to become flying creatures, and it zaps his energy. That wouldn't work at all."

Jeannie chimes in, "We could call for Pegasi."

Nick shakes his head. "No, only certain demigods can do that. Like Percy, or Reyna. It helps if you're related to Poseidon."

"Yeah." Will nods. "Nobody here can summon them."

Suggestions keep getting tossed into the conversation, then rejected moments later. This goes on for a long while until I blurt out, "Why don't we just shadow travel?"

Everyone stops talking. Silence ensues, and I'm left standing there awkwardly while everyone else gawks at me.

Finally, Nick comments, "That's a great idea. Both of us can jump, and we can take people through the shadows with us. And things."

The chatter commences again as everyone except me mulls over the idea. Eventually it's decided that we'll continue on by shadow travel, with two passengers with me and two with Nick.

We get our supplies packed up and tucked away, then Nick and I do a quick test run of a few yards. When it works and we both end up only a few feet away from each other, we both smile and laugh in relief.

It's go time.


	39. Yet Another Response to Reviews

Okay, so, yet another update!

I've been getting a lot of questions and comments from the user who simply calls him-or-herself 'Guest' in my comments. Actually, 'Guest' could be multiple people. But I prefer to think of 'Guest' as just one person :)

Apparently I've been changing personalities. Yes, that is on purpose. Thanks for noticing!

The reason behind that is: Nico changed when he was in the Underworld. While there, he learned different things and changed.

I mean, would you not change if you spent 18 years in the Underworld?

I thought so.

Also, I (obviously) changed Will's character. The theory behind that is that he was in love with Nico when Nico died. Will loved him so much that he couldn't imagine living without a part of Nico, and so he basically tried to _become_ Nico.

I know it's a bit creepy, but it's actually supposed to be endearing.

Trust me, I tried.

Really.

As for the Will's hair, he dyed it, grew it out, and shaved part of it off. I actually got the idea for that from one of my good friends, except my friend died his hair red, not black.

As for Nick being different from Nico, that's all to do with the 'Nature versus Nurture' theory. Nick and Nico grew up in two totally different worlds. Nico went through the 1940s, the 2000s, and also Hell (quite literally). Nico is also mentally older than Nick. Meanwhile, Nick grew up in camp Half-Blood during the 2000s. So, even though they are exact copies of one another, they're very different.

As for Nick not having a boyfriend... Well, I actually haven't given that much thought. I'll do something regarding that sooner or later, I guess.

Anyway... That's about it for right now! have a VERY MERRY 2014 CHRISTMAS!

Meowzerz is out, PEACE!


	40. Chapter 33 - Into the Woods Again

"Can't... go... farther. Stop... I..." Nick coughs and wheezes. "Too tired."

I clear my throat and nod. I'm tired as well, but I've done much more shadow travelling than this before. Like when I helped move the Athena Parthenos, for example.

Yeah. I know what being tired is.

We've only been jumping for a maybe 10 minutes, but with passengers and baggage, it's a hard haul. Nick can barely stand, and I've already worked up a sweat.

We've gone maybe forty or fifty miles so far. Nick and I have jumped 3 times, about 15 or 16 miles each. I've jumped much farther, but for a novice even that small distance is extremely difficult.

The terrain we've entered now is rocky, with many tall trees surrounding the area. They're mostly redwoods, overshadowing all of the other life in the forest.

Nick is leaning up against one of the trees, panting. Seeing how exhausted Nick is, I walk over to him and set up his tent so he can rest. He gives me a grateful smile in response and crawls into the tent. Moments later I hear him snoring softly, just like I do when I'm in a deep sleep.

Since I should get some rest as well, I follow Nick's lead and crawl into the tent.

In the tent, Nick's fast asleep with a snakeskin-patterned arm slung over his head, covering much of his hair, which by now is showing some black at it's roots.

I get myself ready for bed and slip into my sleeping bag. In moments, I'm conked out, but it seems that I've only slept a wink when I'm suddenly awakened by a deep, rough voice.

"Nico," Will whispers. "Wake up. Come on, wake up."

I groan lightly and push myself into a sitting position. Will cocks a smile and I glare at him, annoyed. I don't like it when people wake me up. I'm not a morning person.

"Come on." Will whispers again.

I get onto my knees and crawl out of the tent's opening, quick and nimble. Will follows me out, more awkwardly. His monsterously tall frame barely fits through the opening. Once he's out though, he's quick as a fox.

Will grabs my hand and leads me into the trees, away from camp. His stride is so long that I have to take three steps for every one of his. Will's also so much taller than me that he has an easy time stepping over obstacles, while I have to awkwardly clamber over them or go around them.

Eventually, we stop walking. Will leads me up to a small outcrop of rock and we sit together, looking through the entertwining branches of the trees at the sky that lies beyond. I can make out tons of stars above us, bright and entriguing.

After a few minutes, Will's lengthy fingers grasp mine. We just sit and watch the stars like that for a while, saying nothing and observing everything.


	41. Chapter 34 - I Love You

"Man, you are hard-core!" I laugh as I head back to our small encampment with Will. "You just don't give up!"

Will smiles devilishly. "Well, why would I?"

"Oh, I dunno. Because we - us - is impossible, and you know it just as well as I do?"

Will chuckles. "I know. But how can you force yourself to not like someone?"

I shrug. "I dunno. You don't?"

"Yeah." Will nods. "But you know... It's even harder when you love someone."

I stop in my tracks. Did he just say love? As in he loves me? Is it true, what Nick said? I try to say something, but all that I end up doing is making a slight gargling noise.

"What? Like you don't already know." Will says, and also stops.

I shake my head, yes. I already know - well, suspect is more like it. But I don't fully believe it.

Will turn towards me. "You want me to say it, don't you."

It's not a question; it's a statement. He already knows my answer. Before I can respond, Will turns, grabs me by the shoulders, and kisses me.

Again, his lips are softer than velvet. He smells like drying grass and sugar. I slide my hands up under his shirt a bit. He's warm, and he's strong. And he's kind. He's all any sane person would want.

In this moment, I decide that I need to be with him. I must be with him. I don't care about our ages anymore, I don't care that he's too old for me, I don't care that I said we couldn't be together. I couldn't care less if people make fun of us. So what if they do? I'm gay. Does that matter? No. I have every right to be with him.

Will starts to pull away from me, but I grab him back . I slip my hands into his and we stand there for a moment, forheads touching. Will's bent over, because he's so much taller than me, but neither of us care.

I let one of my hands fall from his and he straightens up, then we start walking again. As we near the camp, Will pulls me close to him and whispers in my ear, "I love you, Nico DiAngelo."

I pull back so I can look him in the eye, then smile and say, "I love you, too, Will Solace."


	42. Chapter 35 - Protection

I wake up with a light heart and a happy smile. After yesterday, what with Will telling me he loves me, who wouldn't be happy?

I pull on a red sweater and black jeans, then step outside of the tent. Frank's already up, cooking breakfast at the campfire while sitting on a flat, bench-like rock. I walk up to him and sit down.

"Hey, man." He says. "Whatsup? You look happy."

I smile and draw my knees up to my chest. "Oh, nothing much. And yes, I am happy. Thanks for noticing!"

Frank raises his eyebrows. "You gonna say why you're happy?"

"Nope." I respond.

"Okay then."

At that moment, Will walks into the camp. He smiles at Frank but doesn't so much as give me a look. I can't figure out why. I just hope that it wasn't something I did, but as far as I know I haven't done anything specifically... Wrong.

For all of breakfast he completely ignores me. His attitude doesn't change as the day passes. I don't have the slightest idea why he's treating me like this. Didn't he say that he loved me? Or were last night's words just a dream?

We stop travelling for lunch around noon, and I take the chance to pull Will aside - I need to talk to him. He's talking with Jeannie when I walk up.

"Will." I say, approaching him. "I need to talk to you."

Will turns around and sees me. "Okay." He turns and says goodbye to Jeannie quickly, then follows me out of camp a little ways.

The area that we're currently in is fairly barren and desolate, with mainly small shrubs and tufts of grass dotting the landscape. Sand lies in patches along the ground.

When we're far enough from cap I turn to Will and glare at him accusingly. "You've been ignoring me, all day, and for no reason. What's the matter? Did I do something to offend you?"

"No, no." Will shakes his head. "You didn't do anything. I've been ignoring you for a reason."

"What reason?" I ask. His 'reason' had better be good.

"I'm trying to protect you!"

"Protect me? Really? What a pathetic excuse!" I shout.

Will grabs my shoulders "No, really! I'm trying to protect you. From the others." He lifts his hand as I open my mouth, silencing me. "Wait. I can explain."

I roll my eyes a bit as he continues on.

"The others might seem like friends, but they're dangerous just the same. Frank could easily shape-shift and snap your neck. Jeannie has a deady shooting aim. Nick fights using acrobatics and knives, which is an ugly combination. Ivan can and has killed with his sword." Will shakes his head. "One false move, and friends can turn into enemies. Us being together would be a false move in Ivan's and Nick's eyes."

I interrupt before he can stop me. "Why would Nick not be okay with it? Just a few nights ago he told me that he thought that you loved me. And he's right, as far as I know!"

"Well, he might seem like he's okay with it, but I know that in actuality that he's not. You being with me would be like him being with me - and Nick already has someone to call his own. You being with anyone - anyone - would be upsetting to him." Will explains, pursing his lips.

"Okay... Well, what about Ivan?"

"Ivan? He straight out hates gays. Also, he hates the children of Hades. He's good at hiding it, but you can see it in his eyes if you look close enough. If he found out that you're gay as well as a kid of Hades, you're as good as dead."

I'm silent for a moment. It's hard to fathom that my brother and my friends could become my enemies just because I'm gay.

But I guess that's just the twisted, crazy world we live in.

I walk back to camp without another word.


	43. Chapter 36 - Slow Death

By dinner I feel dead.

After jumping 2 times since lunch, Nick and I are both so tired that we just crash. We both miss dinner, but neither of us care. We've jumped 5 times today, and we don't even know where we're going. The prophecy never mentioned where we're supposed to go, so we've just been heading east towards Greece.

So far that doesn't seem like the best decision.

We've barely encountered any monsters, and nothing all that important has happened - the only thing that might even be worth mentioning is my dream. From it and the prophecy combined, I've been able to make out a few goals for the quest: Find Leo and Calypso (and Festus), rescue them, fight off some mysterious danger (without getting killed) and save the world, and bring Leo and Calypso back to camp Half-Blood with us.

Are those goals even realistic? They sure don't seem like it. The prophecy basically says that the fate of the world is resting in our hands (again) and that we have to save Leo, Festus, and Calypso.

But Leo and Calypso are trapped in a dungeon, chained up. And Festus is in pieces. And they're probably being guarded by some evil demon.

Yippee. So much fun.

Either way, the mission is draining my energy, and fast. I'm extremely tired, and Nick is in even worse condition. We're going to have to find a better way to travel, because I'm only going to physically be able to jump maybe two or three more times. Nick might be able to jump once more, but I highly doubt that.

I have a bad feeling that we're going to need Dragon Frank soon. If not, then we'll probably have to find a town and get a couple cars, which I'd rather not do.

Anyways, I can't do much more jumping. It quite literally is killing me - I know what jumping does when it's misused. I know that from experience. Shadow travelling nearly put me on my deathbed once. It definitely could again.

Jumping is just another word for a slow death.

Which is why after 5 jumps I feel dead.


	44. Chapter 37 - Gone

I wake up suddenly to the sound of a girl screaming. I jump up, draw my blade, and turn on my heel. Jeannie is nowhere to be seen and there's a giant gash in the side of our tent.

"Nick. Nick!" I shout, running over to where he's laying. "Wake up! Jeannie's gone."

"Wha...?" Nick mumbles, yawning.

"Jeannie's gone!" I shout again. "Come on, get up!"

Nick scrambles to his feet. "Gone? What do you mean by gone?"

"I mean that she's not here and there's a huge rip in our tent! What do you think I mean by 'Jeannie's gone'?" I scream at him. "Don't you hear those screams?!"

"I can't hear them over you!" Nick pauses, and the screams ring out louder and clearer than ever. "Oh my God." Nick gasps. "Jeannie! Let's go!" Nick quickly starts to climb out of the tent, but I stop him.

"Not alone, idiot! We need to get the others. Who knows what's out there? We can't go alone!"

Nick grimaces, then turns around and continues getting out of the tent. I follow him out, and we continue on to Frank, Ivan, and Will's tent. As we near it, the screams suddenly stop. My blood runs cold, and I rush on to the tent. Nick doesn't move. He just stands there, frozen, as I start yelling at the top of my lungs.

"Wake up! Ivan! Frank! Will! Wake up!" I'm gasping for breath by now. "Jeannie... Jeannie's gone!"

Will and Frank climb out of the tent's front flap, stumbling. Ivan doesn't appear.

"What do you mean, she's gone?" Frank asks confusedly.

"Gone as in I woke up to screaming and there was a gash in the side of our tent!" I shout. "Until a few seconds ago she was still screaming, and then it just... Stopped!"

Will freezes, and Frank's eyes shoot open.

"Oh my... Oh, no." Will gasps. He ducks back into the tent and calls out, "Ivan?" A moment later he reappears, his face panic-stricken. "Ivan's not here either."

Frank's reaction is immediate. He swiftly shape-shifts into a dragon and grabs Nick, Will, and I in his talons, then throws us onto his back. I cling on for dear life as he lifts his great wings and soars off into the night to rescue Jeannie and Ivan.


	45. Chapter 38 - Found

The landscape has turned into a dark forest by the time anything happens at all. We're flying low, trying to find any signs of life when I suddenly hear the cries in the distance.

"Help. Help!" A voice calls out from the trees. It's a voice of a girl, but it doesn't sound like Jeannie at all. Jeannie's voice is low, while this voice is high and slightly nasal-sounding.

Even so, we should do what we can.

"Hey, Frank. Down there." I say.

Frank pulls his wings back and glides down to the ground, landing with a sharp thump. Will, Nick, Ivan, and I slip off of his back and he shrinks back into a human.

Then we hear the cries again: "Help! Please, someone, anyone. Help me!"

"Come on!" I scream, starting to run.

The others follow me as I weave through the trees. A damp mist covers the ground, and I can barely see ahead of me. A few times I stumble, but I continue on, determined.

Suddenly, the trees open up into a clearing. On the other side of it is a great cliff of stone. I can't see well, but I think that there are cells of some sort on the cliff face. I slowly and cautiously continue forward, towards the voice that is screaming for help.

Once I reach the other side, I see that there are indeed prison-like cells covering the face of the stone. The iron bars covering the openings of the cells are rusted, but they are as thick as my forearm.

I explore on, the others following suit.

Inside each cell there was something different. Inside one, there is a strange, bird-like creature. In another, bits of what looks like glass. And in another, a small girl of 10 or so, who looks nearly starved.

The girl lifts her large eyes to mine. Her lips quiver as she whispers, "Please help me. Please. Get me out of here!"

I bit my lip and look away, then let out a breath that I hadn't realized I'd been holding. I call back the hate, the pain, and the anger that I used to carry on my shoulders and pull my arms up. All around me, the ground splits open and skeletons crawl up out of it, as well as remains. They walk towards the girl and start pulling at the bars while the girl cowers in her cell.

I turn away and look around at the other cells. I pass one, two, three, four. None of them hold Jeannie, or Festus, or Leo and Calypso. Then, as I'm walking, something drips onto my shoulder.

I wipe it off with my thumb and look at it.

It's blood.

I look up and see a stain of red creeping down the rock from a cell straight above me. I gasp.

"Will! Come here!" I call, panicked.

Will walks over silently. I point my finger upwards and he glances in the direction I'm indicating, and then he opens his mouth wide. We share a glance and Will forms his hands into a platform. I step up onto it and then jump up onto the cliff face. I climb as quickly as I can. In a few moments, I'm clinging onto the bars of the cell and peering in.

The inside of the cell is gargantuan, with a floor that slopes down, and four things lie inside it.

A pile of golden rubbish, a bleeding figure with curly golden hair, Ivan, a young man chained to a wall, and a deathly pale woman chained up beside him.


	46. Chapter 39 - The Rescue

I pull my knife from my belt and start hacking away at the bars, which are so rusty up here that they crumble with each hit. Soon, I've cut an opening in the bars wide enough for me to step into. I clamber inside the cell and turn around so I can see what's happening.

My zombies and skeletons have managed to free the girl and are now trying to open up the other cells. Frank is back in dragon form and is patrolling back and forth with Nick on his back, looking for danger.

I turn back to face the prisoners. The man opens his eyes deliriously.

"Nico?" He asks, his voice hoarse.

I scramble up to him. "Oh my God. Leo."

I grab his chains forcefully and tear away at them, finding strength I didn't know that I had. Then I continue on to the woman, who I assume is Calypso, and I do the same, tearing at her chains until they've snapped in two.

I run to the front of the cell and call down to Will, who is anxiously waiting, "Get ready to catch some people. I'm gonna lower Leo and Calypso down. And Frank. And maybe Jeannie."

I go back to the wall of the cell and gently grab Leo, then lower him down to Will's waiting arms with the utmost care. Then I grab Calypso and do the same. Then I rush over to Jeannie and turn her over onto her back. She's unconscious, has a gash on her forehead, a bloody spot on her shirt, and scratches all over, but the bleeding's mostly stopped. I can't do much for her right now, so I lower her down to Will. Then I help Ivan down, because his leg is (I'm pretty sure) broken.

Next, I crawl over to the pile of gold that's lying on the floor. I can't do much with it, but I have a Shrinking Bag with me that can hold anything and only take up about the space of a sock. So I stuff Festus's pieces into it and then clamber back down the cliff face.

At the bottom, we load everyone onto Frank's back, except for the girl. She seems scared, and refuses to climb up, so I slip of of Frank's back with Will to try ans convince her to get up. She just backs away from us until we reach the cliff face.

"Come on, we won't hurt you, and neither will Frank. Frank's a good dragon." I say calmly.

The girl just shakes her head and presses herself more firmly against the rock.

"It's okay, really." Will says emphatically. "We're here to help you get out of here: We won't hurt you."

Suddenly, the girl's demeanor changes. "You won't hurt me, you say? Well, that can't be true of me. I will hurt you."

Then the unimaginable happens.

Again.


	47. Chapter 40 - Truly Mine

In front of us there is a monster that wants to kill us.

It's dragon-like, but with multiple heads. It's skin is a dull gray-blue.

It's a Hydra.

"You freed the Earth Mother's captives!" The beast spits with rage. "I will kill you! I will kill you!"

The monster springs forwards at me, and I don't have any time to pull out Katropis. I fall down and the beast slashes at me. I feel heat spread across my cheek, and feel a drip of warm liquid start to trail down my chin.

Then, suddenly, the monster is gone. I get up to see Frank wrestling with the Hydra, slashing, clawing, and breathing fire. I scramble to my feet and back away, bumping into Nick, who has his sword drawn.

"Sorry," I gasp. "Sorry."

I turn back to the battle unfolding in front of us.

The Hydra is still fighting with Frank, and there's been no sway that I can see: I have no clue who's winning.

Then the Hydra jumps up and backs away from Frank. "Stop." It croaks. "I give." It narrows it's eyes. "Almost..."

Suddenly, the monster whips around and spits some sort of beam of light at me, but before I can even duck out of the way, Will is in front of me, taking the hit.

Several things happen at once. Frank runs at the beast and bites it through it's necks, Jeannie wakes up, and Will starts to moan out in pain.

I fall down onto my knees next to him and watch as he convulses. His hair grows backwards, shrinking back into his head, his legs and arms shrink slightly in height, and he visibly loses some of his muscle mass. His skin is replaced layer by layer with different skin that's glossy and tan. His hair stops shrinking and turns golden, and his freckles reappear.

I have no idea what's happening, but I know that I can't do anything as Will jerks back and forth, face-down on the ground.

Suddenly, he stills. I can hear him breathing, but he's not moving.

"Will... Will!" I say, then whisper, "Will..."

As if my voice wakes him, he suddenly rolls over and sits up. He coughs and looks at me, grimacing. I furrow my brow at him in confusion. He looks exactly like he did before I left. He's 18 again, somehow.

"What?" Will asks me as I stare at him.

I try to say something, but I only succeed in opening and shutting my mouth like a fish. Eventually I'm able to speak, and I gasp out, "You... You're 18. What... What happened?"

Will looks down at himself in shock, then looks up at me with a broad smile. "Now we can be together. I told you I'd find a way."

I laugh and tackle him, pulling him into a tight embrace, and I kiss him. It's just as great as any of our other kisses, and maybe even better.

Because now I know that he can truly be mine.


	48. Important Note and Update

Hey guys, whatsup?

I just wanted to say, thank you for leaving comments, but...

PLEASE REMEMBER TO ONLY LEAVE ONES THAT AREN'T MEAN!

I've already deleted quite a few comments that were hurtful and unkind. Please remember that I'm new to writing, I'm not the best (and yes, I already know that, you don't have to tell me), and that my stories are meant for entertainment. If you don't like my story, then there are a few simple solutions:

Don't read it!

Say something kind or just don't comment at all.

Ignore it!

Go write your complaints in a diary.

Go read something you like better.

Just don't leave mean comments, okay?

Thanks.

And on that note: My story is drawing to a close, but not to worry! Life Neverending is currently just a draft. I'll be working more on the story as time goes on, making it longer, adding important plot twists, etc. This story's journey is far from over!

Also, I am thinking of writing a sequel. It all depends on how I edit Life Neverending, but there might be another fanfiction coming out in a few months... Just keep your eyes open!


	49. Chapter 41 - Heading For Home

"Nico? What are you doing?" I hear Frank ask.

I pull away from Will shamelessly. "Kissing my boyfriend."

Frank's mouth hangs open. "What?" Then he takes a closer look at Will. "Oh my Gods. Will, what... What happened to you?"

Will sits up and smiles. "If you haven't already figured it out, that was no Hydra. It just looked like one, and, well, maybe it was, but it was possessed by Hebe's powers somehow."

_My prayer was answered_, I realize. _Thank you, Hebe. Thank you._ I think to myself as Frank backs up a bit, looking confused.

"That... _Thing_ tried to fire a spell or something at me, and Will took the hit. The magic, or whatever it was, turned him eighteen again." I explain.

"Oh." Frank replies, then gulps. "Well, when did you two start going out then?"

I'm about to reply, but Will cuts me off. "Not long after Nico returned. We'd had crushes on each other for a while before he left. Remember how I went goth when he died?"

Frank nods, and Will continues. "Okay, well that was my way of remembering him. I became more like him."

I grab Will'd hand and squeeze it. At first, I though that his choice of doing that was a bit creepy, but now I think that it's endearing.

Frank bites his lip. "Okay, um, well then." He clears his throat. "Okay. That's not strange at all."

I laugh. "You know what? It is weird. And you know what else?" I lean my head on Will's shoulder. "I really don't care."

"Okay." Frank says, then walks away.

I laugh harder, and Will joins in. After a moment or two, I stand up and offer Will my hand. He takes it and stands up. He still towers over me, but not nearly as much. Apparently, he still has another four inches to grow. As for my height, I might grow another inch.

But then again, who cares?

I walk with Will to where the rest of the group is meeting, still holding hands with him.

We receive a couple strange looks, but nobody asks any questions. It's not like they actually need to, either -we'll tell them the whole story later.

I can tell that Nick automatically makes the connection, though, because he gives me a thumbs up right before the meeting really starts. At this point, Jeannie, Leo, and Calypso have already been treated with ambrosia and band-aids. There's not much more we can do for either of them at the moment. Jeannie's joining us for the meeting, but not Leo or Calypso.

"Okay." Ivan starts. "I think that our mission has been accomplished. Are we agreed?"

All around the circle heads nod.

"Yeah? Okay, then, we should start heading back. Should we shadow travel or fly?"

Nick and I share a glance, and I can almost read his thoughts. He wants to try it.

"Let's jump. Nick and I are ready." I say, clearing my throat.

"Alright." Ivan says.

I grab Jeannie's hand, then Will and Jeannie pick up Calypso. Nick grasps hands with Ivan and Frank, and the three of them pick up Leo. Ivan grabs the bag that contains Festus.

Then we start heading for home.


	50. Chapter 42 - Threat

We arrive back at Camp Half Blood around midnight, exhausted and relieved. The quest is over, and now we have time to just rest. It's something that all of us deserve, but especially Nick and I. We're both ready to crash because of the long day's journey. It wasn't nearly as long as when we first started jumping, though, because Nick's getting better at shadow travelling. We were able to cross hundreds of miles in just four jumps on the way back, compared to jumping maybe twenty times on the way there.

Nick's getting stronger by the day, and it seems like I'm gaining quite a bit of power too. Maybe it's because we're hanging around together and we're both Hades' kids, or maybe it's because we're both gaining more experience. I don't know how it's happening, but I'm glad that it is. More power means more standing, and more standing means more control.

Now that I'm back, I want to try to become the leader of my cabin, like I was before I died. Except this time, I won't be alone in my cabin, so there will have to be votes on what we will and won't do.

Once we pass through the gate, all we want to do is sleep, but that's not possible quite yet. First, we have to report to Chiron that we successfully finished our quest, then we have to deliver Leo, Jeannie, and Calypso to the Apollo cabin for urgent treatment. After that, we can rest, but not before.

We walk up to the White House and bang on the door. I hear an annoyed grunt, then the soft patter of hooves, growing louder. After a few minutes, the door opens up, revealing Chiron. He smiles and invites us in.

"So," He says casually, waving his hand at us to sit down, "You accomplished your Quest, I see."

We nod a bit, too tired to really answer.

Chiron purses his lips. "I see that Leo and Calypso aren't in that great a condition. Since I know now that you've done what was needed, deliver them to the infirmary immediately. Then go straight to bed." He cracks a smile. "And that's an order!"

We all stand up and grab Leo and Calypso and carry them, still unconscious, to the Apollo Cabin's infirmary. As we near, we hear the clatter and chatter of people for the first time in weeks, and as we get closer, we're able to make out individual voices.

"Marissa, over here."

"John, can you _please _try to sit up?"

"Hey! That hurts!"

"Mmph. You'll need stitches."

"Do you need Ambrosia? I can go get it."

At the door, Will, Ivan, and I set Leo down on the ground and I call out for a medic. A girl with curly red hair and a face of freckles rushes over. When she see's Leo's and Calypso's conditions, she makes a panicked face and runs to get another person.

The other kid pulls a face and has us life Leo onto a gurney, then Calypso, and then they rush them into the depths of the hospital. Moments later, Jeannie is instructed to go with one of the Apollo kids into another room.

Once they're all in safe hands, we walk back to our cabins without another word. As I open the door to my cabin, a voice whispers in my ear, _I'll get you, Nico DiAngelo, if it's the last thing I do_.

I whip around, my hand on the door's handle, but see no one there. I scan my surroundings, unable to see any signs of life, and then I step into my cabin and crawl into bed. Safe, but only for so long.


End file.
